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THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


From  the  collection  of 
Julius  Doer ner,  Chicago 
Purchased,  1918. 


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THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


From  the  collection  of 
Julius  Doerner,  Chicago 
Purchased,  1918. 

339 


' 

. • ' • 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

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https  ://arch  ive . org/detai  Is/whyof  povertyOO  h u bb_0 


THE  WHY  OF 
POVERTY 


BY 

GEORGE  H.  HUBBARD 


THE 


Hbbcy  press 

PUBLISHERS 
114 

FIFTH  AVENUE 
NEW  YORK 


ULonDon 


flfcontreal 


Copyright,  1901, 

by 

THE 

Hbbe*>  press 


S 5 (M"  §5  Acj\z,l 


3B3 

H-%  fc 


TO  MY  WIFE 

THIS, 

MY  FIRST  IN  COVERS, 

IS 

AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED. 


697248 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introduction 7 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Tribute  to  King  Alcohol 24 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Continual  Burnt  Offering 40 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Expensive  Amusements 54 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  American  Weakness 63 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Penalty  of  Ignorance 75 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Babelism  86 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Aversion  to  Manual  Labor 96 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Tax  on  Barbarism 105 


5 


6 Contents. 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Economics  of  the  Strike 120 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Economics  of  Speculation 135 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Ethics  of  Labor 151 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Ethics  of  Speculation 167 


THE  WHY  OF  POVERTY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The  most  troublesome  element  of  the  social 
problem  on  its  economic  side  is  the  element  of 
poverty.  All  other  questions  at  the  present 
time  seem  to  radiate  from  this  as  their  common 
center.  Every  scheme  for  reform  seems  to 
have  this  for  its  ultimate  end, — to  relieve  pov- 
erty. Poverty  makes  men  restless,  it  makes 
them  envious,  it  makes  them  desperate.  And 
there  is  poverty  in  our  land,  hard,  grinding 
poverty,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  na- 
tion as  a whole  is  growing  richer  at  the  rate 
of  more  than  a billion  dollars  annually. 
Periodically  there  sweeps  over  the  country  a 
wave  of  hard  times  and  thousands  of  struggling 
workers  are  almost  swallowed  up  in  its  resist- 
less flood.  Even  during  what  we  call  easy 
times  there  are  many  who  must  battle  night 
and  day  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door.  Mul- 
titudes of  families  know  nothing  of  luxury, 

7 


8 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


and  not  a few  are  strangers  to  even  the  com- 
forts and  decencies  of  life.  Children  are  reared 
amid  squalor  and  filth  unfit  for  animals. 
Women  wear  out  their  lives  toiling  for  a mere 
pittance.  Hungry  ones  long  in  vain  for  nour- 
ishing food ; and  weary  ones  are  spurred  on  to 
their  toil  by  the  knowledge  that  rest  means 
starvation. 

These  weary  ones  look  across  the  way  and 
see  their  neighbors  living  in  plenty,  who  ap- 
parently toil  no  harder  than  they.  The  sight 
fills  them  with  discontent;  for  they  feel  sure 
that  something  is  wrong  with  the  world  in 
which  they  live.  Wealth  is  certainly  very  un- 
equally distributed.  The  fact  is  patent  to  all, 
and  the  question  naturally  arises, — What  is 
the  cause  of  this  inequality?  Who  is  respon- 
sible for  the  fact  that  one  man  has  enough  and 
to  spare  while  his  brother  man  perishes  with 
hunger?  Is  it  the  fault  of  existing  social  sys- 
tems, or  of  the  wickedness  of  individual  men 
and  women,  or  of  an  unequal  Providence? 

This  is  a vital  question.  It  strikes  at  the 
tap-root  of  the  social  problem  in  its  broadest 
outlook.  In  the  cause  of  an  evil  lies  the  secret 
of  its  cure.  Therefore  the  first  step  towards 
the  cure  of  poverty  must  be  the  discovery  of 
the  causes  of  poverty. 

Most  men  are  ready  to  lay  the  blame  for 
every  evil  and  for  every  misfortune  which  they 
suffer  upon  others,  whether  they  have  sufficient 


Introduction. 


9 


reason  to  do  so  or  not.  The  poor  are  apt  to  say 
that  their  condition  is  the  result  of  adverse  cir- 
cumstances. They  accuse  their  wealthier  neigh- 
bors of  dishonesty  and  extortion.  They  mur- 
mur against  the  peculiar  difficulties  and  adver- 
sities which  Providence  has  placed  in  their 
pathway.  The  writings  and  speeches  of  radi- 
cal socialists  abound  in  denunciations  of  all 
who  have  succeeded  in  accumulating  large 
fortunes.  Without  discrimination  they  are 
branded  as  robbers  of  the  poor,  oppressors  of 
the  weak,  enemies  of  honest  toil ; and  the  poor 
are  led  to  believe  that  the  property  of  every 
rich  man  represents  a certain  amount  of  wealth 
stolen  directly  from  them.  On  the  other  hand, 
how  often  we  hear  the  wealthy  and  comfort- 
able ones  speaking  contemptuously  of  the  poor 
as  the  miserable  and  pitiable  victims  of  their 
own  ignorance  or  lack  of  thrift.  They  say 
that  all  who  suffer  are  themselves  to  blame. 
They  are  idle,  careless,  improvident,  immoral, 
and  much  more  of  the  same  sort. 

Such  sweeping  denunciations  on  either  side 
are  unjust,  and  most  frequently  they  are  the 
utterance  of  those  who  know  but  little  as  to 
the  actual  truth  involved.  Worse  than  all, 
they  do  not  help  in  the  smallest  degree  to  re- 
lieve existing  difficulties  or  to  prepare  the  way 
for  better  things  in  future.  Quite  the  con- 
trary. They  intensify  all  feelings  of  hostility 
and  drive  men  farther  apart  than  ever,  thus 


10 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

causing  an  unreasonable  and  useless  delay  in 
the  solution  of  the  social  problem. 

In  all  such  assertions  there  is  a shadow  of 
truth,  a small  basis  of  reason;  and  it  is  this 
element  of  truth  that  gives  them  power  for 
evil.  There  are  undoubtedly  many  dishonest 
men  among  the  wealthy.  But  there  are  also 
many  dishonest  poor  men.  If  some  of  the 
poor  are  thriftless  and  idle,  the  rich  are  not 
without  their  idlers  and  their  unthrifty  ones. 
Wealth  is  not  proof  positive  of  dishonesty  any 
more  than  poverty  is  incontrovertible  evidence 
of  a lack  of  thrift  and  industry.  Furthermore, 
if  a man  is  poor  because  he  has  been  wronged, 
it  does  not  follow  by  any  manner  of  necessity 
that  he  has  been  wronged  by  a rich  man. 
Whenever,  therefore,  a tale  of  wrong  and  suf- 
fering comes  to  us,  we  cannot  jump  at  once  to 
a conclusion  regarding  the  cause.  We  must 
investigate  the  matter  carefully  in  all  its  bear- 
ings, before  we  can  pronounce  judgments  that 
shall  have  any  weight  or  offer  advice  that  shall 
be  of  real  service.  We  must  first  inquire  who 
has  been  wronged.  We  must  find  out  to 
what  extent  he  has  been  wronged.  Then 
we  must  ask  who  has  wronged  him.  Is 
he  really  wronged  at  all?  Or  is  he  simply 
unfortunate  ? Has  he  been  wronged  by 
others  or  by  himself?  Is  his  unhappy  con- 
dition the  result  of  his  own  ignorance, 
selfishness,  obstinacy?  Or  has  he  been  the 


Introduction. 


n 


helpless  victim  of  a partial  Providence  or  an 
unequal  system  of  distribution?  That  a per- 
son is  wronged  implies  injustice  on  the  part 
of  some  one.  That  which  is  wrong  when  suf- 
fered cannot  be  right  when  committed.  It 
may  be  himself,  or  it  may  be  another,  that 
has  done  the  wrong.  Wherever  the  wrong 
lies,  we  must  trace  it  and  remove  it.  Other- 
wise we  may  not  hope  to  remove  its  results. 

As  we  study  the  conditions  of  American 
society  one  fact  impresses  itself  upon  us  al- 
most immediately,  namely,  that  the  poor  of 
cur  land  do  not  belong  to  any  particular  class, 
nor  can  they  be  said  to  form  a distinct  class  of 
themselvesj  This  fact  should  be  emphasized, 
for  it  is  significant.  Many  associate  poverty 
with  toil,  and  talk  about  “ poor  working  peo- 
ple/’ Others  speak  of  the  “ poor  classes,”  and 
the  “ wealthy  classes,”  as  though  there  are 
some  distinct  line  drawn  between  them.  Now, 
however  this  may  be  in  other  lands,  it  is  not 
so  in  our  own  America.  Our  poor  are  not  a 
separate  class,  nor  are  they  all  working  people. 
Many  of  the  hardest  workers  in  the  land  are 
among  the  so-called  wealthy  classes.  The 
thousands  of  poor  people  in  our  great  cities 
and  elsewhere  are  in  the  main  so  many  dis- 
tinct and  wholly  unrelated  units.  They  are 
not  connected  by  ties  of  class  or  heredity.  The 
poor  man  of  to-day  is  the  son  of  yesterday’s 
millionaire,  and  his  son  will  probably  be  the 


12 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


capitalist  of  to-morrow.  The  rotation  “ from 
shirt-sleeves  to  shirt-sleeves  in  three  genera- 
tions ” is  no  myth,  but  a common  occurrence 
in  American  society.  Furthermore,  the  man 
who  now  complains  of  poverty  but  a few  years 
ago  stood  side  by  side  with  his  rich  neighbor 
in  school,  in  the  work-shop,  or  in  the  counting- 
house.  Then  there  was  no  appreciable  differ- 
ence in  their  wealth.  They  began  life  at  prac- 
tically the  same  point ; but  their  paths  diverged. 
No  candid  student,  therefore,  can  justly  con- 
nect poverty  and  labor  as  though  there  were 
some  natural  relation  between  the  two. 

To  connect  poverty  with  progress,  as  though 
the  latter  were  cause  and  the  former  effect,  is 
equally  unjust.  The  assumption  that  poverty 
increases  as  a consequence  of  the  material 
progress  of  society  is  utterly  false,  not  to  say 
foolish.  The  countries  of  the  Old  World  have 
made  great  material  progress  during  the  past 
few  centuries,  and  poverty  has  not  increased. 
On  the  contrary,  the  most  carefully  collected 
statistics  and  the  most  thoroughly  sifted  facts 
prove  that  poverty  and  pauperism  have  de- 
creased in  modern  times.  In  England  the 
number  of  paupers  to-day  is  less  than  one-half 
as  great  in  proportion  to  the  entire  population 
of  the  country  as  it  was  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. Even  the  casual  reader  of  history  can- 
not be  ignorant  of  the  fact.that  in  England  and 
France  the  condition  of  the  poorer  people  has 


Introduction. 


13 


been  constantly  improving  for  two  hundred 
years.  In  our  own  land  the  condition  of  things 
is  vastly  better  than  in  any  country  of  Europe. 
We  must  take  into  account  the  enormous  in- 
crease in  our  population  during  the  present 
century,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  prove  that 
the  proportion  of  poverty  is  any  greater  than 
in  the  early  days  of  our  national  existence. 
One  thing  is  certain;  the  average  earnings  of 
laboring  men  are  rapidly  increasing,  and  every 
year  the  manual  laborers  are  securing  a larger 
share  of  the  profits  of  production.  The  truth 
of  this  statement  may  be  easily  verified  by  any 
intelligent  person  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
consult  the  facts  within  the  range  of  his  own 
observation. 

The  writer  of  Progress  and  Poverty  brings 
before  us,  as  an  illustration  of  his  pet  theory, 
the  growth  of  a new  state  like  California,  and 
says  that  in  the  early  days  of  its  history,  be- 
fore the  resources  of  the  State  began  to  be  de- 
veloped, there  was  no  appreciable  poverty 
within  her  borders;  but  with  the  building  of 
railroads  and  the  development  of  the  wonder- 
ful resources  of  the  State  poverty  appears. 
Therefore, — the  material  progress  of  the  State 
is  the  cause  of  the  poverty  of  some  of  its  in- 
habitants! 

Such  a conclusion,  though  widely  accepted, 
is  a palpable  non  sequitur . To  use  a technical 
phrase  of  the  schools,  it  is  “ mistaking  ante- 


14 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


cedent  coincidence  for  cause.”  As  well  might 
we  say  that  because  Mr.  Jones  died  on  the 
very  day  when  Mr.  Smith  was  married,  there- 
fore, Mr.  Smith’s  marriage  was  the  cause  of 
Mr.  Jones’  death,  or  vice  versa.  Before  the 
resources  of  California  were  developed  and 
railroads  built,  only  men  of  energy  or  of  some 
wealth  could  obtain  a settlement  in  the  state 
but  with  social  development  and  improved 
facilities  for  travel  multitudes  have  flocked  in, 
poor  men  as  well  as  rich,  the  idle  as  well  as  the 
industrious,  tramps  and  speculators  as  well  as 
artisans  and  legitimate  traders,  and  they  have 
brought  with  them  all  the  causes  of  poverty. 
The  gravest  charge  that  we  can  justly  make 
against  the  material  progress  of  the  state  is 
that  it  has  not  sufficed  in  every  case  to  neutral- 
ize the  real  causes  of  poverty. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  country  at 
large.  Poverty  exists  in  spite  of  increasing 
wealth.  But  no  reasonable  man  can  ask  the 
question, — Why  does  increasing  prosperity 
tend  to  make  certain  classes  of  the  people 
poorer?  Such  a question  is  stultified  by  facts. 
Increasing  prosperity  does  not  tend  to  do  any 
such  thing.  The  question  which  we  must  ask, 
and  which  it  is  above  all  things  important  that 
we  should  answer,  is — Why  does  not  our  mar- 
velous national  prosperity  preclude  the  possi- 
bility of  any  individual  cases  of  poverty  within 
our  borders ? 


Introduction. 


15 


In  asking  this  question,  we  take  one  thing 
for  granted.  The  nation  as  a whole  is  grow- 
ing richer.  The  poverty  which  causes  so  much 
trouble  and  complaint  is  individual.  In  other 
words,  many  individuals  in  the  land  do  not 
share  in  the  constantly  increasing  national 
wealth.  These  facts  are  universally  acknowl- 
edged, although  their  significance  is  often  mis- 
understood. Mr.  George,  in  all  his  works, 
bears  testimony  to  the  material  prosperity  of 
our  country,  and  the  most  radical  socialistic 
writers  do  the  same.  In  fact,  this  is  the  chief 
source  of  their  grievance.  If  society  in  general 
were  growing  poorer,  then  there  would  be  no 
cause  for  complaint  or  even  for  surprise  that 
individuals  are  poor.  But  poverty  is  not  na- 
tional ; nor  are  all  men  growing  poorer.  The 
charge  is  made  that  while  one  portion  of  so- 
ciety is  daily  growing  poorer,  others  are  grow- 
ing proportionately  richer,  day  by  day.  It  is 
asserted  that  the  benefits  of  our  increasing  na- 
tional wealth  are  shared  by  only  a part  of  the 
people,  and  that  those  who  need  it  most  not 
only  fail  to  obtain  any  share  of  it,  but  are 
actually  losing  that  which  they  already  possess. 
The  truth  of  such  a statement  has  been  ques- 
tioned, however,  and  the  most  thorough  stu- 
dents of  social  economy  assure  us  that  the 
poor  are  in  point  of  fact  the  greatest  gainers 
by  the  country’s  prosperity.  But  which  posi- 


16  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

tion  soever  is  the  true  one,  all  are  agreed  on  the 
one  point, — that  poverty  is  individual. 

In  attempting  to  discover  and  explain  the 
causes  of  poverty,  modern  socialists  of  the 
popular  type  ignore  this  fact.  They  attribute 
poverty  to  an  imperfect  system  of  social  or- 
ganization, and  to  the  unequal  division  of  the 
profits  of  labor.  Now,  if  these  were  really  the 
chief  causes  of  poverty,  we  should  find  the 
ranks  of  the  poor  recruited  constantly  from 
particular  classes.  The  demand  for  reform  in 
any  national  or  general  system  is  always  based 
on  the  assertion  that  it  militates  against  par- 
ticular classes  in  the  community.  Those  who 
argue  in  favor  of  the  “ Single  Tax  Doctrine,” 
say  that  the  present  system  works  to  impoverish 
all  who  do  not  own  land.  Advocates  of  Pro- 
tection ” and  of  “ Free  Trade  ” alike  claim  that 
the  realization  of  their  ideals  would  be  a finan- 
cial blessing  to  “ working  men.”  And  so  with 
other  proposed  changes ; they  deal  with  men  in 
classes.  Since,  therefore,  poverty  does  not 
affect  classes  of  men,  but  is  wholly  individual, 
we  must  seek  for  its  causes  in  something  wholly 
independent  of  our  political  or  social  organ- 
ization. In  short,  we  must  seek  for  individual 
causes. 

No  one  doubts  that  our  social  organization 
is  susceptible  of  improvement  at  many  points. 
Many  are  willing  to  acknowledge  that  there  is 
a certain  plausibility,  to  say  the  least,  in  the 


Introduction. 


17 


theory  of  the  public  ownership  of  land,  in  the 
“ Single  Tax  Doctrine,”  in  the  teachings  of 
the  “ Nationalists.”  To  some  the  notion  of 
“ Free  Trade  ” is  also  very  acceptable.  In 
many  ways  it  is  clearly  possible  to  bring  about 
a more  equitable  distribution  of  the  fruits  of 
industry  than  is  secured  by  existing  laws  and  in- 
stitutions. We  can  easily  see,  however,  that 
all  such  changes  must  be  very  general  in  their 
results.  They  will,  when  perfect,  secure  abso- 
lute fairness  to  all  the  various  classes  of  so- 
ciety, but  they  can  neither  prevent  nor  cure  in- 
dividual poverty.  Even  the  absolutely  equal 
division  of  the  aggregate  wealth  of  society 
would  not  accomplish  that  result  except  for  a 
brief  moment.  W.  H.  Vanderbilt’s  enormous 
income,  divided  amongst  his  employees,  would 
not  have  added  a hundred  dollars  each  to  their 
annual  incomes.  Neither  would  the  most 
equitable  adjustment  of  taxes,  coupled  with  the 
fairest  division  of  profits,  increase  the  average 
income  of  our  poorer  citizens  to  any  percep- 
tible degree.  By  all  means  let  us  have  these 
reforms,  so  far  as  they  are  just  and  right;  but 
let  us  not  expect  too  much  from  them.  We 
may  put  them  all  in  practice  and  yet  find  that 
poverty  has  not  been  cured  or  appreciably 
diminished. 

During  a period  of  excessively  hot  weather 
the  entire  population  of  a city  may  feel  physi- 
cally disordered.  In  addition  to  this  general 
2 


i8 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


depression  some  individuals  may  have  con- 
tracted distinct  diseases  through  contagion  or 
from  some  other  cause.  With  a return  of 
cooler  weather  the  general  tone  of  public  health 
will  be  improved.  Doubtless  all  will  be  some- 
what better,  but  the  sick  ones  will  not  be  cured 
without  special  treatment  and  medicine  suited 
to  each  disease.  In  like  manner,  while  we  may 
expect  a general  improvement  in  the  condi- 
tions of  society  to  result  from  improved  social 
organization,  we  may  hope  to  cure  individual 
cases  of  poverty  only  by  applying  remedies 
that  are  as  specific  as  the  disease. 

That  there  are  specific  or  individual  causes 
of  poverty  in  our  land,  and  that  they  are  many 
in  number  and  grievous  in  their  effects,  no  one 
will  have  the  hardihood  to  deny.  They  are 
apparent  even  to  the  dullest  minds.  Their 
comparative  importance  and  extent  are,  how- 
ever, often  underestimated.  They  are  con- 
sidered of  trifling  significance  in  comparison 
with  political  systems  and  inequalities  in  the 
general  organization  of  society.  Popular  re- 
formers for  the  most  part  ignore  these  plain, 
prosaic  facts,  and  go  soaring  off  into  the  upper 
regions  of  theory,  where  they  can  avail  them- 
selves of  the  enchanting  power  which  distance 
always  lends  to  the  view.  Yet  these  common- 
place facts  are  not  so  trifling  and  unimportant 
as  many  would  have  us  to  believe.  On  the 
contrary,  they  are  the  important  facts  in  the 


Introduction. 


19 


case.  They  constitute  a force  sufficient  to 
vitiate  whatever  good  results  we  may  obtain 
from  the  best  regulated  system  of  social  or- 
ganization. 

We  need  mention  in  this  connection  only  a 
few  of  the  more  prominent  among  these  dis- 
turbing forces  by  way  of  illustration. 

First  among  them  is  the  Liquor  Traffic . The 
annual  amount  of  this  traffic  is  estimated  at 
from  seven  to  nine  hundred  millions  of  dollars . 
To  this  must  be  added  an  immense  sum  for 
indirect  expense  caused  by  the  traffic,  if  we 
would  measure  the  full  power  of  the  evil.  Now 
the  effect  of  this  traffic  upon  the  general 
wealth  of  the  nation  is  not  felt  in  any  marked 
degree,  although  it  diverts  into  useless  and 
harmful  channels  a vast  amount  of  energy  that 
would  otherwise  be  employed  in  valuable  pro- 
duction. Neither  does  it  perceptibly  affect  the 
original  distribution  of  wealth  among  the 
various  classes  and  individuals  of  society.  It 
does,  however,  operate  after  the  original  dis- 
tribution of  the  national  wealth  to  entirely  de- 
range the  results  of  that  distribution,  by  trans- 
ferring money  from  one  individual  to  another 
without  bringing  any  equivalent  return.  Thus 
the  wealth  of  many  individuals  is  diverted 
from  its  proper  use  and  is  practically  con- 
sumed. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  Tobacco  Traffic.  In 
this  case  the  amount  of  wealth  transferred 


20 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


from  one  group  of  individuals  in  the  com- 
munity to  another  is  about  six  hundred  mil- 
lions. This  is  a heavy  tax,  and  one  that  is 
levied  not  on  any  particular  class,  but  upon 
those  individuals  alone  who  willingly  pay 
tribute  to  the  tyrant. 

The  enormous  expense  attendant  upon 
Strikes  and  other  social  disturbances,  which 
has  of  late  amounted  to  an  average  of  ten 
million  dollars  a year  in  our  land,  is  another 
force  which  draws  the  wages  out  of  the 
pockets  of  individuals,  leaving  them  impover- 
ished while  their  neighbors  grow  rich. 

A still  greater  amount  wasted  in  Useless  and 
Expensive  Amusements , will  account  for  the 
poverty  of  others  who  have  received  their  fair 
share  in  the  first  distribution.  And  others 
scatter  their  earnings  in  general  extravagance. 

Another  force  operating  in  perfects  harmony 
with  those  already  mentioned  is  Speculation. 
In  the  various  exchanges  and  stock  markets 
of  our  land,  more  than  five  hundred  million 
dollars  change  hands  every  year,  representing 
loss  on  one  side  and  gain  on  the  other  in  each 
transaction.  Closely  akin  to  the  work  done  in 
these  centers  is  that  of  the  Lotteries  and 
Gambling  Dens,  which  amounts  to  one  or  two 
hundred  millions  annually. 

We  say  that  America  is  growing  richer  at 
the  rate  of  more  than  a billion  dollars  every 
year,  and  we  imagine  that  this  means  a great 


Introduction. 


21 


deal  if  we  could  only  insure  its  equitable  dis- 
tribution. And  so  it  does.  But  the  few  items 
above  mentioned  give  a total  of  about  two  bil- 
lion dollars , a sum  nearly  double  the  entire  in- 
crease of  wealth  throughout  the  country.  Of 
what  avail,  therefore,  is  the  utmost  care  in 
the  original  distribution  of  this  wealth,  when 
it  is  to  be  frustrated  by  such  overwhelming 
forces  of  disturbance  after  the  distribution  has 
been  effected.  ^ 

We  may  summarize  the  principal  causes  of 
rpoverty  among  Americans  in  two  words — 
LWaste  and  Speculation. 

Waste  takes  place  in  three  ways:  i.  The 
absolute  destruction  of  wealth,  as  in  the  case 
of  war,  riots,  and  the  like.  2.  The  exchange 
of  useful  for  useless  commodities,  illustrated 
in  the  liquor  and  tobacco  traffic.  3.  The  ex- 
penditure of  labor  which  is  unproductive, 
which  is  done  by  all  manufacturers  of  useless 
and  harmful  commodities. 

Speculation  signifies  any  form  of  trade  in 
which  profits  are  secured  by  artificial  means, 
and  without  making  any  return  in  the  form  of 
productive  labor. 

Either  of  these  causes  would  appear  to  be 
sufficient  of  itself  to  account  for  all  the  poverty 
in  America : and  when  both  causes  are  present 
and  vigorously  active,  poverty  should  not  be 
a matter  of  surprise  to  any  one.  So  long  as 
these  two  forces  continue  to  work  unrestrained, 


22 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


we  may  increase  our  national  wealth  ten-fold, 
yes,  a hundred-fold,  and  we  may  readjust  our 
social  system  never  so  carefully,  and  there 
would  still  be  poverty,  as  hard  and  as  bitter  as 
at  present.  The  man  who  has  a million  dol- 
lars and  throws  it  away  is  just  as  poor  as  the 
man  who  had  only  ten  cents  and  lost  it.  The 
lottery  with  a large  capital  has  as  many  blanks 
as  the  smaller  one,  and  they  are  just  as  blank. 

It  is  neither  true  economy  nor  Christian 
charity  to  help  those  who  can  help  themselves. 
He  is  the  truest  friend  to  one  in  need,  who 
teaches  him  how  he  may  supply  his  own  needs. 
A man  who  is  poor  and  suffering  likes  to  be 
told  that  some  one  else  is  to  blame  for  his  un- 
happy condition ; that  he  would  be  all  right,  if 
his  neighbors  would  treat  him  justly,  or  if  so- 
ciety were  on  the  right  basis.  But  the  most  ef- 
fectual way  to  relieve  his  suffering  is  to  show 
that  its  cause  and  cure  lie  in  his  own  hands. 
This  is  undeniably  true  of  the  burdened  thou- 
sands in  our  land.  • All  the  poverty  that  results 
from  causes  other  than  the  two  which  I have 
named  is  a mere  bagatelle)  If  the  poor  people 
of  America  would  with  one  heart  and  voice  de- 
clare war  against  these  personal  habits  and 
practices  of  evil,  if  they  would  take  a firm  stand 
against  every  form  of  waste  and  every  custom 
or  institution  that  fosters  useless  expenditure, 
poverty  and  suffering  would  disappear  as  if  by 
magic.  Then  the  weakest  might  laugh  in  the 


Introduction. 


23 


face  of  oppression  and  live  in  comfort  despite 
all  the  intrigues  of  their  fellow-men.  If  we 
could  but  proclaim  a determined  warfare  of 
labor  against  waste  and  speculation,  we  should 
soon  cease  to  hear  of  any  strife  between  labor 
and  capital. 


24 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  TRIBUTE  TO  KING  ALCOHOL. 

There  are  two  lines  of  approach  to  every 
problem, — the  line  of  theory,  and  the  line  of 
fact.  When  the  facts  are  beyond  our  reach, 
or  are  difficult  of  interpretation,  theories  may 
be  very  useful  as  aids  to  a final  solution  of 
the  problem  in  hand.  The  astronomer,  the 
physicist,  the  biologist,  often  make  theory  the 
stepping-stone  to  valuable  discovery.  But 
when  facts  are  abundant  and  plain,  theories 
are  unnecessary.  More  than  this,  they  often 
serve  to  mystify  that  which  is  in  itself  per- 
fectly clear.  They  obscure  the  point  in  ques- 
tion by  turning  the  mind  away  from  the  simple 
facts  involved. 

At  the  present  time  men  are  approaching 
this  problem  of  poverty  along  the  line  of 
theory.  They  are  tickling  the  popular  im- 
agination with  high  sounding  schemes  of  so- 
cial and  political  reform.  They  are  searching 
the  heavens  for  causes  dim  and  distant.  And 
all  the  while  facts  sufficient  and  more  than  suf- 
ficient for  the  most  complete  solution  of  the 


The  Tribute  to  King  Alcohol.  25 


problem  lie  close  at  hand.  The  facts  are  plain, 
self-evident,  commonplace.  And  for  this  very 
reason  aspiring  minds  overlook  them  or  treat 
them  with  contempt.  But  the  facts  remain,  and 
while  they  remain  no  theory  that  ignores  them 
will  avail  one  iota  in  the  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem. 

Let  us  approach  the  problem  along  the  line 
of  facts;  and  let  us  begin  with  a great  fact 
which  obtrudes  itself  unbidden  upon  the  notice 
of  every  student  of  poverty.  Other  causes  there 
are  and  grievous,  but  this  far  surpasses  them 
all.  It  is  the  giant  evil,  the  Goliath  more 
powerful  for  harm  than  all  the  rest  of  the  Phil- 
istine host. 

Three  letters  embody  the  secret  of  a large 
part  of  the  want  and  destitution  in  our  land. 
Three  letters  lock  the  door  of  comfort,  of  food, 
of  happiness  and  of  hope  against  millions  of 
our  people.  Three  letters  contain  the  germ  of 
misery  unspeakable,  of  suffering,  of  wretched- 
ness, of  vice.  Three  letters  suffice  to  tell  us 
what  has  filled  our  alms-houses,  pur  asylums, 
our  prisons.  And  those  three  letters  spell  the 
word — Rum. 

Other  evils  are  limited  in  their  sphere  to 
certain  sections  or  classes,  or  at  least  to  the 
individuals  most  directly  concerned.  But  the 
evil  of  intemperance  is  universal  in  its  effects. 
Go  where  you  will,  you  find  traces  of  its  work- 
ing. It  disturbs  the  peace  of  our  fairest 


26 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

towns  and  villages.  It  invades  the  sanctity  of 
our  purest  homes.  It  is  constantly  extending 
its  encroachments,  and  striving  to  secure  a 
stronger  hold  upon  our  social  and  political 
life.  And  wherever  it  comes,  it  dries  up  the 
fountains  of  wealth,  it  devours  the  fruits  al- 
ready garnered,  it  levies  its  tax  not  only  upon 
its  victims  but  upon  their  neighbors  as  well. 

Intemperance  is  more  rapid  in  its  working, 
more  far-reaching  in  its  influence,  and  more 
terrible  in  its  effects  than  any  other  single  im- 
poverishing force  in  the  land.  The  poverty 
that  results  from  strong  drink  is  poverty  in- 
tensified seven-fold.  It  is  degradation,  misery, 
hopelessness.  War  has  slain  its  thousands; 
but  alcohol  has  slain  its  tens  of  thousands. 
Worse  than  this;  it  has  bound  intolerable  bur- 
dens upon  millions  of  the  living.  To  poverty 
and  starvation  it  has  added  shame  and  disease 
and  weakness.  If  many  have  died  its  willing 
victims,  many  more  have  been  born  to  an  in- 
heritance of  disease,  and  physical  and  mental 
weakness  for  which  they  are  in  no  way  respon- 
sible, but  whose  effects  are  not  mitigated  by 
their  innocence.  Statistics  of  the  “ cost  of  in- 
temperance ” only  represent  the  beginnings  of 
the  cost.  The  almost  infinite  succession  of 
wastes  and  losses  that  follow  in  the  train  of 
this  evil  can  never  be  expressed  in  figures; 
they  can  never  be  traced  by  investigation ; 
they  can  only  be  seen  and  felt. 


The  Tribute  to  King  Alcohol.  27 


The  people  of  the  United  States  spend  $900,- 
000,000  every  year  for  intoxicating  liquors. 
These  figures  stand  unchallenged,  and  are 
familiar  to  many  readers.  May  they  be  re- 
peated and  emphasized  till  every  intelligent 
person  in  the  land  shall  heed  them,  and  shall 
grasp  something  of  their  terrible  significance. 
Nine  hundred  million  dollars!  Think  what 
that  means. 

It  means  a yearly  tax  of  nearly  twenty  dol- 
lars each  for  every  man,  woman  and  child  in 
this  country;  which  sum  must  be  paid  out  of 
the  earnings  of  honest  industry. 

It  means  a comfortable  livelihood  for  at 
least  one  million  families  swallowed  up  in  this 
awful  whirlpool. 

It  means  the  food  and  clothing  %and  com- 
fortable homes  of  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  the  wives  and  children  of  working  men  ex- 
changed for  beggary  and  rags  and  hovels. 

It  means  a disturbance  of  the  equilibrium  of 
wealth  too  great  to  be  balanced  by  any  artificial 
means,  a cancer  in  our  social  and  economic 
life  that  can  be  cured  only  by  being  removed. 

If  our  national  congress  were  to  appropri- 
ate one-tenth  of  this  sum,  or  even  one-hun- 
dredth, for  some  useless  expenditure,  it  would 
raise  a hue  and  cry  in  every  part  of  the  land, 
and  political  orators  would  never  tire  of  re- 
peating the  story.  If  such  a tax  as  this  were 
levied  even  for  educational  purposes,  or  for 


28 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


some  other  object  equally  worthy,  it  would  be 
denounced  as  oppression,  and  men  would  rebel 
against  it.  We  should  hear  of  indignation 
meetings,  of  caucuses;  yes,  fortunate  if  we  did 
not  hear  of  mobs  and  riots  and  violence.  And 
most  certainly  active  and  efficient  measures 
would  be  taken  to  prevent  such  legislation  in 
future. 

But  when  the  stupendous  facts  of  the  drink 
habit  and  its  results  are  published  the  people 
are  indifferent  and  soon  grow  weary  of  hear- 
ing them.  Instead  of  rising  in  hot  indignation 
against  the  evil  and  its  abettors,  they  vent  their 
wrath  upon  those  who  are  trying  to  expose  and 
cure  it,  sneering  at  them  as  fanatics  and  cranks, 
or  hounding  them  as  the  enemies  of  the  poor 
man’s  pleasure  and  comfort.  The  poor  man 
does  not  wish  to  be  told  that  his  own  intem- 
perate habits  are  the  cause  of  his  poverty.  He 
would  rather  shut  his  eyes  to  the  self-evident 
facts,  and  listen  to  some  specious  theory  by 
which  the  blame  could  be  laid  on  other  shoul- 
ders. It  is  a salve  to  his  conscience,  an  an- 
esthetic to  his  wounded  manhood;  but  it  does 
not  relieve  his  distress  nor  feed  his  starving 
family. 

Thousands  upon  thousands  of  the  ragged 
ones  who  murmur  against  God  and  their  fel- 
low-men, who  talk  about  oppression  and  in- 
justice, owe  their  poverty  to  drunkenness,  and 
to  that  alone. 


The  Tribute  to  King  Alcohol.  29 

“ ’Tis  true,  ’tis  pity  ; and  pity  ’tis,  ’tis  true.” 


The  half  has  never  been  told,  nor  can  be. 
Nothing  could  be  more  pertinent  to  the  sub- 
ject in  hand.  Until  we  meet  and  successfully 
cope  with  the  facts  involved  in  this  old  and 
commonplace  story,  there  is  little  use  in  seek- 
ing deeper  for  causes  or  inventing  new  theories 
for  cure. 

Not  seldom  are  new  theories  propounded 
and  new  economic  systems  advocated  for  the 
simple  purpose  of  turning  the  public  mind 
from  this  great  evil,  and  obscuring  its  direct 
relation  to  the  problem  of  poverty.  Those  who 
draw  large  revenues  from  this  blood-tax,  or 
whose  livelihood  is  derived  from  the  traffic  in 
strong  drink,  pose  as  the  champions  of  the  op- 
pressed, the  friends  of  the  poor  and  down- 
trodden. None  more  ready  than  they  to  talk 
about  the  injustice  of  any  and  every  existing 
social  system,  if  by  this  means  they  can  blind 
the  eyes  of  their  patrons  while  they  pick  their 
pockets.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  socialistic 
movements,  strikes,  riots,  and  other  like  dis- 
turbances, emanate  in  the  great  majority  of 
cases  from  the  saloons.  Here  discontent  is  fo- 
mented and  the  wildest  schemes  are  formed. 

The  old  fable  tells  how  some  doves  invited 
a hawk  to  protect  them  against  their  enemy, 
the  kite:  and  how  the  hawk,  being  admitted 
to  the  dove-cote,  slew  more  of  the  confiding 


30 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


birds  in  one  day  than  the  kite  could  have  done 
in  a year.  The  rum-seller  is  the  hawk  of 
modern  society.  Loudly  declaring  that  the 
laborer  ought  to  receive  higher  wages  and  to 
enjoy  more  of  the  comforts  of  life,  he  uses 
every  art  to  steal  away  his  present  wages  and 
the  comforts  which  he  already  enjoys.  And 
all  the  while  he  is  sapping  his  power  both  to 
earn  and  to  enjoy.  He  is  the  cause  of  infi- 
nitely more  harm  than  all  injustice  and  op- 
pression that  any  man  can  suffer. 

Discussion  of  land  tenure,  tariffs  and  social 
or  political  systems  are  all  very  well  in  their 
place  ; and  they  are  doubtless  more  or  less  im- 
portant : but  none  of  these  questions  affect  the 
financial  interests  of  the  working  people  so  seri- 
ously as  does  this  question  of  intemperance. 
A great  deal  has  been  said  about  the  land 
rents  of  Ireland.  The  whole  world  has  inter- 
ested itself  in  the  subject.  Yet  even  in  Ire- 
land, according  to  Canon  Wilber  force,  the 
whiskey  bill  of  the  people  exceeds  the  sum 
total  of  the  land  rents  by  more  than  two  and  a 
quarter  millions  of  pounds,  or  nearly  twelve 
million  dollars.  If  this  be  true  of  Ireland, 
how  much  more  is  it  true  of  America!  The 
land  question  in  this  country  is  a mere  baga- 
telle when  compared  with  this  gigantic  evil  of 
intemperance.  Magnify  to  the  utmost  the  evils 
growing  out  of  the  system  of  private  property 
in  land,  yet  will  they  not  amount  to  a hun- 


The  Tribute  to  King  Alcohol.  31 


dredth,  no,  not  to  a thousandth  part  of  the 
evils  arising  from  the  sale  and  the  use  of  in- 
toxicating drinks. 

The  statistics  given  regarding  the  extent  of 
the  drink  habit  and  its  enormous  cost  are 
startling  to  every  thoughtful  reader;  but  they 
are  very  inadequate  to  express  the  real  magni- 
tude of  the  evil.  As  well  attempt  to  express 
the  cost  of  a great  explosion  by  the  value  of 
the  dynamite  used  in  the  bomb,  as  to  express 
the  cost  of  intemperance  by  the  value  of  the 
liquor  consumed  by  our  people.  Every  dollar 
of  the  nation's  drink  bill  represents  many  dol- 
lars of  expense  that  can  only  be  hinted  at,  but 
can  never  be  computed  or  expressed  by  figures. 
It  represents  production  hampered  by  intoxi^ 
cation.  It  represents  wages  lost  by  idleness. 
It  represents  life  destroyed  and  property  squan- 
dered, disease  and  crime  increased.  It  repre- 
sents more  money  spent  in  asylums,  alms- 
houses and  jails.  It  represents  a great  addi- 
tional expense  for  government  and  police  pro- 
tection. We  cannot  follow  out  all  the  countless 
ramifications  of  waste  and  added  expenditure 
that  are  incurred  from  this  one  cause;  but  we 
can  give  a few  items  which  may  serve  to  sug- 
gest the  immeasurably  greater  facts  hidden 
from  view. 

The  annual  police  expenditure  of  our  nation 
is  not  less  than  twenty-five  millions  of  dollars. 
Almost  the  whole  of  this  outlay  is  directly 


32 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


chargeable  to  the  effects  of  intemperance.  In 
the  few  communities  from  which  intoxicating 
liquors  are  entirely  banished  the  police  ex- 
pense is  merely  nominal.  The  following  facts 
are  well  attested : 

“ Vineland,  New  Jersey,  with  a population 
of  ten  thousand,  and  without  a single  saloon, 
has  passed  an  entire  year  without  one  criminal 
arrest.  Greely,  Colorado,  with  three  thousand 
inhabitants  and  without  a dram-shop,  has  no 
use  for  a police  force  or  for  a criminal  magis- 
trate. And  of  Bavaria,  Illinois,  similarly  sit- 
uated, with  three  thousand  population,  it  is 
said  that  it  has  managed  to  live  without  a 
drunkard,  without  a pauper,  and  without  a 
crime.”  (Dr.  Behrends,  Socialism  and  Chris- 
tianity, p.  246.) 

Beyond  a peradventure  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  the  worst  crimes  committed  in  this 
or  in  any  other  civilized  land  may  be 
traced  directly  to  their  source  in  the  liquor 
saloon  and  the  drinking  habit.  And  the  line 
is  usually  very  short  and  straight.  The  crim- 
inal fortifies  himself  for  his  crime  in  the 
saloon.  His  inspiration  and  his  courage  are 
but  the  manifestations  of  his  partial  or  com- 
plete intoxication. 

The  cost  of  our  asylums,  alms-houses  and 
jails  is  enormous.  Look  at  our  army  of  sev- 
enty thousand  criminals  in  the  prisons  of  our 
land,  involving  an  expense  of  one  hundred 


The  Tribute  to  King  Alcohol.  33 


and  twenty-five  million  dollars  a year,  and  a 
total  loss  to  the  country  of  more  than  six 
V_ hundred  million  dollars . Look  again  at  our 
eighty-nine  thousand  paupers  and  thirty-five 
thousand  tramps , eighty  per  cent,  of  whom, 
with  an  equal  proportion  of  the  criminals,  have 
been  brought  to  their  present  condition 
through  intemperance.  Of  the  nearly  one 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  insane  persons 
in  our  asylums,  fourteen  per  cent,  are  the  im- 
mediate victims  of  strong  drink,  and  many 
more  doubtless  are  suffering  from  its  indirect 
effects.  Let  us  also  remember  the  fact  that 
there  are  about  tzvo  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
men  employed  in  the  various  departments  of 
the  liquor  traffic , manufacture  or  sale.  Add- 
ing these  forces  together,  we  have  an  army  of 
more  than  four  hundred  thousand  men  with- 
drawn, by  the  influence  of  intemperance,  from 
useful  and  productive  labor  to  spend  their 
time  and  energy  in  doing  that  which  is  in- 
jurious to  mankind.  Far  better  that  they 
should  be  maintained  in  absolute  idleness  than 
that  they  should  be  engaged  in  such  harmful 
activity. 

To  establish  the  relation  between  intemper- 
ance and  poverty  requires  no  argument.  The 
fact  obtrudes  itself,  as  we  have  already  said, 
upon  every  intelligent,  observing  mind.  Wher- 
ever we  look  we  see  the  cause  and  effect  so 
close  together  that  we  cannot  mistake  their  con- 
3 


34 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

nection.  Drunkenness  and  poverty  ever  go 
hand  in  hand.  Were  every  other  cause  of  pov- 
erty removed,  we  should  still  find  many  cases  of 
want  and  suffering  so  long  as  intemperance  is 
not  banished  from  the  land. 

What  need  of  long  arguments  and  profound 
treatises  to  account  for  poverty  in  the  midst 
of  plenty,  when  we  have  in  this  one  monster 
evil  facts  sufficient  to  solve  the  entire  problem  ? 
Intemperance  is  the  great  curse  of  our  land 
and  time.  It  is  the  heaviest  burden  under 
which  our  industrial  civilization  staggers. 
The  dram-shop  is  the  recruiting  station  of 
pauperism,  the  poisonous  fountain  of  lawless- 
ness and  crime.  As  we  study  the  workings 
of  intemperance  and  the  methods  and  devo- 
tion of  its  minions,  the  only  wonder  is  that  so 
many  escape  its  grasp.  Were  it  not  for  the 
strongly  buoyant  forces  of  nature,  the  forces 
that  make  for  health,  for  wealth  and  for 
righteousness,  the  very  life  of  this  people  would 
soon  be  overwhelmed  by  this  wide  spreading 
torrent. 

The  waste  resulting  from  intemperance  af- 
fects every  class  of  society.  King  Alcohol 
is  no  respecter  of  persons  or  of  social  lines. 
He  seizes  his  victims  wherever  he  can  find 
them.  He  lays  his  blighting  hand  upon  the 
rich  and  the  cultured,  and  does  not  even  respect 
the  sanctity  of  refined  and  polished  woman- 
hood. He  drags  a millionaire  railroad  presi- 


The  Tribute  to  King  Alcohol.  35 


dent  down  to  the  gutter,  strips  him  of  his 
riches  and  sends  him  to  the  lock-up  in  rags. 
He  draws  into  his  toils  a beautiful  queen  of 
society,  and  makes  her  a cause  of  deepest 
shame  and  sadness  to  all  her  friends.  He 
seduces  the  young  man  who  has  just  become 
heir  to  thousands,  and  in  a few  months  all  his 
money  is  gone,  and  he  is  an  outcast  from  de- 
cent society. 

But  none  suffer  so  generally  nor  so  deeply 
as  do  the  working  men  and  their  families. 
Strong  drink  not  only  steals  away  the  laborer's 
money,  but  it  steals  away  his  brains,  his  skill, 
his  strength.  It  hinders  his  work ; it  robs  him 
of  his  wages.  Grand  Master  Powderly  of  the 
Knights  of  Labor,  in  a speech  delivered  at 
Lynn,  Mass.,  said  that  in  one  county  in  Penn- 
sylvania, during  a single  year,  working  men 
had  passed  eleven  million  dollars  of  their 
money  over  whiskey  bars.  Does  any  one  doubt 
that  there  was  poverty  among  those  working 
men?  It  requires  no  stretch  of  the  imagina- 
tion to  picture  the  squalor  and  the  want  in 
their  families.  We  can  see  their  wives  and 
children  hungry,  clad  in  rags,  driven  to  des- 
peration and  sin  by  cruelty  and  shame.  And 
who  was  to  blame  for  these  things?  If  you 
were  to  ask  the  men  who  thus  wasted  their 
earnings,  many  of  them  would  complain  of 
oppressive  employers,  injustice,  dishonesty, 
pitifully  low  wages,  and  the  like.  Men  who 


36 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


squander  their  money  for  drink  are  always 
ready  to  complain  of  these  things,  and  to  at- 
tribute their  misery  to  the  wrong-doing  of 
others.  It  is  unnecessary  to  deny  their  asser- 
tions. They  may  have  been  oppressed  by  their 
employers.  They  may  have  been  defrauded 
of  their  just  dues.  But  we  are  perfectly  safe 
in  saying  that  the  most  skilfully  dishonest  em- 
ployers could  not  have  kept  back  from  them 
a tithe  of  the  immense  sum  thus  wasted  with- 
out raising  a storm  of  indignation  that  would 
have  turned  the  whole  county  upside  down. 

Intemperance  takes  the  wages  of  a countless 
host  of  productive  laborers  in  every  part  of 
the  land  and  transfers  them  to  a class  of  idlers 
and  unproductive  laborers  who  live  in  luxury 
and  command  every  comfort  and  pleasure. 
The  poor  man  often  looks  with  envy  upon  the 
elegant  home  or  the  fine  carriage  or  the  beauti- 
ful grounds  of  the  wealthy  merchant  or 
banker,  and  says, — “ I have  as  good  a right  to 
those  as  he  has.”  But  for  the  luxuries  and 
elegant  surroundings  of  the  brewer,  the  dis- 
tiller and  the  rum-seller,  which  have  been  pur- 
chased with  the  money  that  should  have' 
clothed  his  own  wife  and  children  and  built 
for  himself  a comfortable  house,  he  has  no 
thought  of  envy.  These  men  he  accounts  his 
friends  and  takes  pride  in  the  display  which 
they  make  at  his  expense. 

Every  working  man  should  look  upon,  all 


The  Tribute  to  King  Alcohol.  37 

who  have  any  part  in  the  liquor  traffic  as  his 
worst  enemies.  Instead  of  welcoming  them  as 
his  allies  in  the  warfare  against  fancied  op- 
pression, he  should  brand  them  as  the  pests  of 
society.  If  intoxicating  liquors  were  banished 
from  our  land,  and  the  saloon  keeper  ceased  to 
exert  an  influence  over  a large  part  of  our  in- 
dustrial army,  we  should  hear  much  less  than 
we  do  about  the  struggle  between  labor  and 
capital : for  strong  drink  is  a prolific  source  of 
strife,  and  has  done  much  to  complicate  exist- 
ing difficulties. 

The  banner  of  the  “ Brewers’  Association/’ 
recently  seen  in  a “ Labor  procession,”  boded 
no  good  to  the  cause  which  the  procession  rep- 
resented. It  was  as  much  out  of  place  as 
would  be  a Confederate  flag  at  the  head  of  a 
United  States  regiment.  So  long  as  honest 
and  respectable  labor  extends  the  hand  of  wel- 
come and  fellowship  to  those  engaged  in  any 
department  of  the  liquor  traffic  there  is  little 
reason  to  hope  for  better  times.  On  the  other 
hand,  all  may  well  rejoice  at  the  expressions 
of  sympathy  that  have  passed  between  the 
Knights  of  Labor  and  the  Woman’s  Christian 
Temperance  Union.  That  were  an  alliance 
both  encouraging  and  helpful.  It  bespeaks  an 
intelligent  understanding  of  at  least  one 
serious  factor  in  the  social  problem  of  the 
day,  and  promises  a direct  and  successful  war- 


38 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


fare  against  it.  No  organization  in  the  world, 
excepting  only  the  Christian  Church,  the 
mother  of  all  worthy  organizations,  has  done 
so  much  for  laboring  men  as  the  Woman’s 
Christian  Temperance  Union;  and  in  its  work 
we  see  one  of  the  grandest  forces  for  the  re- 
duction of  poverty. 

We  may  almost  say  that  the  problem  of  in- 
temperance and  the  problem  of  poverty  are 
one.  So  closely  are  they  intertwined  one  with 
the  other  that  they  will  be  solved  together. 
Intemperance  flourishes  because  of  its  hold 
upon  the  working  men.  They  are  the  defend- 
ers and  upholders  of  the  liquor  traffic.  From 
them  it  draws  its  immense  revenue.  From 
them  it  derives  its  chief  power  and  hope.  To 
them  it  looks  for  continued  approval  and  en- 
couragement. Until  they  withdraw  their  sup- 
port, it  cannot  be  driven  from  our  land.  But 
let  our  great  army  of  laborers  once  see  this 
gigantic  evil  in  its  true  light,  let  them  declare 
war  against  it  in  a body,  and  its  overthrow 
would  be  quickly  accomplished. 

On  the  other  hand,  so  long  as  intemperance 
continues,  and  so  long  as  its  advocates  and 
abettors  are  accounted  the  friends  of  labor, 
we  may  not  hope  to  solve  the  problem  of  pov- 
erty. For  the  continuation  of  intemperance 
means  the  continuation  of  poverty,  of  dissatis- 
faction, of  unrest,  and  of  strife.  A fitting 


The  Tribute  to  King  Alcohol.  3*) 

motto  to  place  over  the  door  of  every  saloon 
and  brewery  and  distillery  in  the  world  would 
be  this, — 

,The  Poor  Ye  Have  Always  With  You. 


40 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CONTINUAL  BURNT  OFFERING. 

The  annual  tobacco  bill  of  the  American 
people. , estimated  in  round  numbers , is  six  hun- 
dred million  dollars . 

A very  large  slice  this  of  our  nation’s  wealth 
to  consume  every  year  in  smoke.  Think  what 
it  means — a tax  of  twelve  dollars  a head  upon 
the  entire  population,  women  and  children  as 
well  as  men.  A sum  equal  to  the  value  of  all 
the  bread-stuffs  manufactured  in  the  country, 
or  to  the  combined  value  of  the  meat  and 
woolen  goods  produced,  and  six  times  as  great 
as  the  annual  expenditure  for  public  schools. 

The  entire  expense  of  carrying  on  our  na- 
tional government  is  only  two  hundred  and 
fifty  million  dollars  a year.  The  users  of 
tobacco  spend,  therefore,  between  two  and 
three  times  as  much  in  the  indulgence  of  a 
useless  and  hurtful  habit  as  the  whole  nation 
spends  for  government.  And  we  fail  to  ap- 
preciate the  full  force  of  this  comparison  un- 
less we  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  expense  of 
government  is  distributed  as  fairly  as  possible 


The  Continual  Burnt  Offering.  41 

among  all  the  taxpayers  of  the  land,  while  the 
tobacco  bill  is  borne  by  a fraction  of  the  peo- 
ple. A census  of  tobacco  users,  could  it  be 
taken,  would  show  that  the  tax  per  capita,  in- 
stead of  being  twelve  dollars,  is  probably  more 
than  twelve  times  twelve  dollars. 

This  burdensome  and  impoverishing  tribute 
is  paid  willingly  in  many  cases  by  the  very 
men  who  are  most  penurious  in  their  expendi- 
tures for  things  necessary  and  beneficial.  It 
knows  no  law  of  proportion,  but  often  falls 
most  heavily  upon  those  whose  wages  are 
wholly  inadequate  to  their  needs.  And  the 
cloud  of  tobacco-smoke  continually  polluting 
the  air  of  our  streets  and  many  of  our  homes 
represents  the  want  of  necessaries  and  com- 
forts and  privileges  of  a higher  order  for  the 
majority  of  smokers  and  their  families. 

Reformers  and  economists  are  on  the  alert 
as  never  before  to  discover  and  expose  all 
waste  in  municipal  or  national  administration, 
all  inequality  or  injustice  in  the  social  organ- 
ism, all  class  oppression  or  public  dishonesty; 
but  personal  wastes,  such  as  the  tobacco  habit, 
receive  scant  attention  from  scientific  minds. 
They  are  left  for  the  most  part  to  the  mercy 
of  hobby  riders  and  petty  enthusiasts.  He 
will  be  a true  benefactor  to  his  fellows  who 
shall  raise  the  subject  of  Personal  Economy 
to  the  plane  of  a science  that  may  prove  as  at- 
tractive as  Political  Economy  or  Social 


42  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

Economy.  For,  while  it  is  praiseworthy  to 
strive  for  a more  equitable  condition  of  things 
in  politics  and  society  and  in  business,  the 
cure  of  personal  wastes  is  more  immediately 
and  permanently  profitable.  The  Monetary 
Conference,  or  any  imaginable  tariff  bill,  or 
Mr.  Bellamy’s  scheme  of  nationalization,  will 
have  far  less  influence  upon  the  question  of 
poverty  than  this  single  habit,  the  use  of  to- 
bacco. 

A certain  class  of  small-minded  economists 
and  demagogues  may  often  be  heard  inveigh- 
ing against  the  great  waste  of  money  through 
the  churches.  They  talk  of  the  immense  sums 
expended  in  religious  work  at  home  and  sent 
away  to  foreign  missions,  which  they  declare 
is  needed  for  physical  comforts,  and  ought  to 
be  given  to  the  suffering  and  starving  poor. 
They  hear  the  report  of  some  missionary  so- 
ciety or  they  listen  to  the  appeal  of  some 
church  for  contributions,  and  they  exclaim 
with  Judas  of  old, — “ To  what  purpose  is  this 
waste  ? ” And  yet  the  total  aijiount  expended 
for  religious  purposes,  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  by  all  the  churches  of  our  land  is  less 
than  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  What  is  this 
in  comparison  with  the  six  hundred  millions 
spent  for  tobacco? 

The  immediate  outlay  of  money  much  more 
nearly  represents  the  actual  waste  in  the  case 
of  tobacco  than  it  does  in  the  case  of  strong 


The  Continual  Burnt  Offering.  43 

drink.  Tobacco  is  not  such  a violent  disturber 
of  public  peace  and  industrial  prosperity  as  is 
alcohol.  It  does  not  drag  in  its  train  such  a 
host  of  attendant  evils.  It  does  not  so  quickly 
nor  so  seriously  impair  the  powers  of  the  in- 
dividual laborer.  However  subtle  and  far- 
reaching  may  be  its  indirect  influence,  we  can- 
not attribute  directly  to  this  source  any  great 
share  of  the  criminal  and  pauper  expenses,  al- 
though it  is  a rare  thing  to  find  either  a male 
criminal  or  a male  pauper  who  is  not  addicted 
to  the  inveterate  use  of  tobacco.  And  in  our 
penal  institutions  this  fact  is  recognized  by  in- 
cluding tobacco  in  the  regular  rations  of  each 
criminal.  To  make  our  bill  against  this  evil 
complete,  however,  we  must  add  a few  items 
to  the  original  sum  which  are  not  altogether 
insignificant. 

Nearly  seven  hundred,  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand acres  of  valuable  land  are  taken  from  the 
production  of  useful  crops  and  devoted  to  the 
culture  of  tobacco,  one  of  the  most  exhausting 
of  all  crops. 

More  than  eighty-five  thousand  men  and 
women  are  employed  in  the  culture  and  manu- 
facture of  tobacco,  whose  energies  might  be 
devoted  to  useful  production. 

Let  these  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five 
thousand  acres  of  land  be  devoted  to  the  rais- 
ing of  wheat  or  other  necessary  products,  and 
let  the  toil  of  the  eighty-five  thousand  workers 


44 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


be  directed  to  useful  ends,  and  these  alone 
would  provide  abundant  food  for  all  the  starv- 
ing ones  in  the  land,  and  no  one  would  be  the 
poorer.  We  cannot  afford  to.  maintain  so 
great  an  army  of  non-producers. 

Very  many  persons  fail  to  appreciate  the 
economic  argument  against  the  liquor  and  to- 
bacco traffic,  because  the  money  expended  for 
either  of  these  habits  remains  in  the  country. 
They  reason  that  so  long  as  the  money  is  ex- 
pended within  our  borders,  there  can  be  no 
serious  loss,  but  rather  a certain  gain  from  in- 
creased trade  and  quickened  circulation.  This 
is  the  position  of  those  who  oppose  the  prohi- 
bition of  the  liquor  traffic  in  their  own  com- 
munity on  the  ground  that  it  will  carry  trade 
and  money  to  neighboring  communities  where 
liquor  is  sold.  If  poverty  were  a national  or 
community  matter,  the  argument  might  have 
some  weight.  But  since  our  nation  and  our 
communities  are  not  poor,  since  poverty  is 
solely  an  individual  matter,  such  reasoning 
shoots  wide  of  the  mark. 

There  is  a common  notion  that  exchange 
means  trade  and  trade  means  wealth.  But 
trade  is  not  wealth,  neither  does  it  pro- 
duce wealth.  On  the  contrary  any  trade 
that  is  not  absolutely  necessary  is  a con- 
sumer of  wealth.  The  most  rapid  circulation 
and  thriving  commerce  that  is  anything  else 
than  a mere  channel  for  the  quickest  exchange 


The  Continual  Burnt  Offering.  45 


of  necessary  productions  makes  men  poorer 
not  richer.  In  any  case,  trade  does  not  add 
one  penny  to  the  original  amount  of  wealth; 
and  at  its  very  best  commerce  is  only  a means 
of  lessening  wastes  that  would  be  very  great 
without  it. 

To  this  school  of  economists  that  believes 
in  the  wealth  producing  powers  of  trade  be- 
longed a certain  man  and  his  good  wife.  As 
they  were  both  fond  of  an  occasional  glass, 
they  purchased,  one  day,  a large  keg  of  beer 
with  which  to  gratify  their  appetite.  The  wife, 
however,  being  of  a thrifty  turn,  desired  to 
make  good  the  cost  of  the  beer;  so  she  sug- 
gested that  for  every  drink  taken  by  either  a 
dime  should  be  paid  to  the  other,  and  thus  they 
would  have  money  enough  to  purchase  an- 
other keg  when  the  first  was  exhausted.  Per- 
haps they  might  even  have  something  over. 
The  husband  readily  assented,  for  like  John 
Gilpin, — 

“ O’erjoyed  was  he  to  find, 

That  though  on  pleasure  she  was  bent, 

She  had  a frugal  mind.,, 


But  one  dime  remained  after  paying  for  the 
original  purchase,  and  that  was  in  possession 
of  the  husband.  Realizing  the  economy  and 
possible  profitableness  of  the  plan,  he  soon 
drank  a mug  of  the  beer,  and  gave  the  dime  to 
his  wife.  She,  in  turn,  took  a draught,  re- 


46  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

turning  the  coin  to  her  husband.  This  pro- 
cess was  repeated  with  greater  or  less  fre- 
quency till  the  keg  was  empty,  and  the  shrewd 
couple  were  amazed  to  find  themselves  in  pos- 
session of  but  a single  dime,  whereas  they  had 
expected  to  recover  the  full  cost  of  the  keg 
with  a reasonable  retailer’s  profit. , There  had 
been  continuous  and  brisk  circulation.  Trade 
had  been  good  in  this  limited  circle.  But  the 
dime  was  only  a dime  after  all.  It  had  not  inj 
creased  in  size  or  value,  but  was  rather  some- 
what worn  by  much  handling.  As  for  the 
empty  keg,  that  was  an  object  lesson  in  the 
total  consumption  of  wealth. 

“ This  fable  teaches,”  as  Aisop  would  say, 
precisely  what  is  the  outcome  of  the  great 
traffic  in  tobacco  and  intoxicating  liquors  that 
is  going  on  all  over  our  land.  Short-sighted 
economists,  under  the  tutelage  of  those  most 
interested  in  the  traffic,  declare  it  to  be  a source 
of  wealth  to  the  country  and  a blessing  to  the 
struggling  masses  of  the  people.  Men  look 
with  pleasure  upon  the  brisk  trade,  and  fancy 
that  it  indicates  good  times  and  comfort  for 
the  poor.  Influential  citizens  and  men  who  ex- 
ert a controlling  influence  in  matters  of  gov- 
ernment are  misled  by  the  specious  argument. 
They  hesitate  to  discourage  these  lines  of 
trade,  either  by  law  or  public  opinion,  lest 
they  should  injure  the  prosperity  of  our  com- 
merce and  block  the  wheels  of  trade.  And 


The  Continual  Burnt  Offering.  47 


this,  they  imagine,  would  be  a serious  injury 
to  the  poor.  At  least,  they  know  that  many 
would  so  consider  it,  and  they  dare  not  cham- 
pion the  truth  in  the  face  of  popular  opinipn. 

In  point  of  fact  it  were  far  better  for  the 
poor  if  these  forms  of  trade  were  done  away. 
By  them  the  people  are  being  daily  impover- 
ished. The  earnings  of  productive  labor  are 
being  exchanged  for  that  which  not  only  fails 
to  satisfy  human  need,  but  which  also  brings 
after  it  a host  of  positive  evils.  The  money 
that  should  procure  food  and  clothing  and 
homes  and  the  highest  forms  of  comfort  for 
working  men  and  their  families,  and  which 
should  make  them  rich,  goes  into  the  pockets 
of  the  non-producing  tobacco  dealer  and  rum- 
seller. 

Wealth  is  created  by  production  not  by 
trade.  Poverty  will  be  relieved,  not  by  stimu- 
lating trade,  but  by  stimulating  useful  pro- 
duction, and  by  restricting  trade  to  the  neces- 
sary exchange  of  such  production. 

Doubtless  many  will  be  ready  to  question 
this  parallelism  between  the  liquor  traffic  and 
the  tobacco  trade.  They  will  say  that  it  is  not 
just  to  wed  nicotine  and  alcohol,  or  to  classify 
the  smoker  with  the  drunkard.  Yet  it  is  not 
difficult  to  show  that  these  two  habits,  with 
their  corresponding  lines  of  traffic,  belong  to- 
gether in  an  economic  sense  if  not  morally. 
And  in  these  pages  we  are  discussing  every 


48  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

question  primarily  from  an  economic  stand- 
point. 

That  the  tobacco  habit  is  a great  waste, 
and  only  waste,  no  one  can  deny.  Tobacco 
cannot  be  classed  with  other  luxuries : for  its 
use  and  effects  are  wholly  distinct.  Indul- 
gence in  luxuries,  properly  so  called,  is  regu- 
lated to  a great  degree  by  the  wealth  of  the 
individual.  While  many  of  the  poor  are  doubt- 
less extravagant  in  the  matter  of  luxuries,  and 
frequently  purchase  things  which  they  cannot 
afford,  still  it  would  be  difficult,  or  rather  im- 
possible, to  mention  any  other  single  gratifi- 
cation to  obtain  which  any  appreciable  number 
of  persons  habitually  deprive  themselves  and 
their  families  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  Even 
among  the  less  thrifty  and  intelligent  classes, 
luxuries  in  general  are  made  secondary  to 
necessities  and  comforts.  But  the  tobacco 
habit  knows  no  such  law.  Like  the  appetite 
for  strong  drink,  it  speedily  gains  a certain 
control  over  those  who  indulge  it,  and  sets 
at  naught  all  considerations  of  economy  and 
true  wisdom.  Once  it  is  admitted  into  the 
life  tobacco  becomes  a daily  requirement,  even 
when  it  must  be  purchased  at  the  expense  of 
food  and  clothing  and  the  other  most  common 
necessaries  of  life. 

Among  the  very  poorest  classes  in  our  land 
the  tobacco  habit  is  well-nigh  universal.  Go 
into  the  poorer  quarters  of  our  cities  and  you 


The  Continual  Burnt  Offering.  49 


will  see  women  and  children  pinched  with 
hunger  and  wanting  not  only  the  comforts 
but  also  the  merest  decencies  of  home,  while 
the  husband  and  father  spends  his  money  for 
tobacco  and  strong  drink.  A male  pauper 
who  does  not  use  tobacco  would  be  a rara  avis 
indeed.  The  burly  tramp,  begging  for  food 
or  for  a little  money  to  pay  railroad  fares, 
while  a dirty  pipe  sticks  in  his  mouth  or  his 
cheeks  are  puffed  out  with  a quid  of  tobacco, 
is  an  every-day  sight.  A tramp  will  go  with- 
out decent  clothes;  he  may  even  go  without 
food  at  times : but  he  never  goes  without  to- 
bacco. 

What  claim  has  the  tobacco  user  upon  the 
benevolence  of  his  fellow-men?  Why  should 
any  man  give  food  to  a creature  with  his  mouth 
full  of  tobacco?  Is  it  to  be  expected  that  those 
who  exercise  the  most  rigid  economy  and  de- 
prive themselves  of  many  a luxury  in  order 
that  they  may  secure  for  themselves  and  their 
families  pleasant  homes  and  a fair  competence 
will  be  eager  to  share  the  results  of  their  thrift 
and  care  with  those  who  but  for  their  daily 
wastes  would  enjoy  them  also? 

Many  a man  has  spent  a comfortable  living 
upon  this  wasteful  habit  of  smoking.  The 
reason  men  fail  to  realize  the  serious  extent  of 
the  waste  is  because  it  is  made  up  of  small 
amounts.  And  this  is  the  essential  difference 
between  thrift  and  thriftlessness,  that  the 
4 


5o 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


thrifty  man  respects  little  things  while  the 
thriftless  man  does  not.  When  Samuel 
Budgett  had  become  famous  as  the  Merchant 
Prince  of  London,  he  said  to  a clerk  who  had  a 
habit  of  wasting  odd  moments, — “ If  you 
waste  five  minutes,  that  is  not  much ; but  prob- 
ably if  you  waste  five  minutes  yourself,  you 
lead  some  one  else  to  waste  five  minutes,  and 
that  makes  ten.  If  a third  follow  your  ex- 
ample, that  makes  a quarter  of  an  hour.  Now 
there  are  about  one  hundred  an(j  eighty  men 
employed  in  my  establishment,  and  if  every 
one  wasted  five  minutes  a day,  what  would  it 
come  to  ? It  would  be  fifteen  hours,  and  fifteen 
hours  a day  would  be  ninety  hours,  which  is 
about  eight  days’  working  time  in  a week, 
and  in  a year  would  be  four  hundred  days. 
Do  you  think  we  could  ever  stand  a waste 
like  that  ? ” 

Of  course  there  are  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  men  who  are  in  a sense  quite  able  to 
afford  the  luxury  of  tobacco.  They  can  in- 
dulge their  unnatural  appetite  to  the  full  with- 
out depriving  themselves  or  those  dependent 
upon  them  of  any  needed  comfort.  They  can 
throw  away  a part  of  their  income  without  feel- 
ing it.  But  these  are  the  few.  The  great  ma- 
jority of  men  have  no  money  to  spare.  Every 
dollar  that  the  average  laborer  spends  for  to- 
bacco means  a dollar  less  for  wholesome  food 


The  Continual  Burnt  Offering.  51 

« 

and  comfortable  clothing,  for  books,  for  home 
adornment,  for  education,  for  travel. 

Granting  that  the  evil  is  not  as  great  as  that 
resulting  from  the  intemperate  use  of  strong 
drink;  still  it  is  a serious  evil.  The  fact  is 
self-evident  that  many  cases  of  poverty  would 
be  instantly  relieved  if  the  poor  would  give 
over  the  use  of  tobacco.  But  how  induce  them 
to  do  this  ? The  most  lucid  instruction  upon  the 
subject  will  avail  nothing.  Men  can  never  be 
educated  out  of  bad  habits.  The  only  effective 
force  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  is  the  power 
of  example. 

Popular  habits  depend  for  their  extent  and 
permanence  upon  the  patronage  of  the  wealthy 
and  respectable.  Let  those  who  can  afford 
this  luxury  discard  the  use  of  tobacco,  and 
the  poor  would  soon  cast  it  aside.  But  so 
long  as  the  wealthy  and  comfortable  use  to- 
bacco, the  poor  will  use  it  too.  In  every  re- 
formatory crusade  an  ounce  of  example  is 
worth  many  pounds  of  instruction  and  advice. 
To  increase  the  wages  of  a man  made  poor  by 
indulgence  in  a wasteful  habit  affords  only 
partial  and  temporary  relief.  Much  better  is 
it  by  example  and  precept  to  induce  him  to 
cease  from  the  habit  which  is  the  cause  of  his 
want.  By  so  doing  his  poverty  is  permanently 
relieved,  the  evil  is  cured,  and  money  is  saved 
for  better  uses. 

In  a broader  sense  the  tobacco  habit  is  in- 


52 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


jurious  to  all,  to  the  rich  as  well  as  to  the  poor, 
and  no  one  can  really  afford  the  indulgence. 
Not  to  speak  of  the  poisonous  effects  upon  the 
system  of  every  individual  who  indulges  the 
habit  regularly,  we  must  not  forget  the  in- 
direct effects  of  any  evil  that  finds  an  entrance 
into  the  great  brotherhood  of  mankind.  For 
the  fact  of  human  brotherhood  becomes  more 
emphatic  and  more  vital  with  every  advancing 
step  of  our  civilization.  In  these  days  it  is 
true  in  a sense  more  important  than  ever  be- 
fore that  “ no  man  liveth  to  himself.”  A habit 
that  injures  a large  number  of  individuals  in- 
jures the  entire  community.  If  my  neighbor 
suffers  in  consequence  of  his  wastefulness,  I 
suffer  with  him.  The  intelligent  people  of 
America,  yes,  of  the  world,  have  long  felt  the 
force  of  this  principle  in  its  bearing  upon  the 
question  of  strong  drink.  Why  should  we  not 
recognize  its  bearing  upon  all  similar  ques- 
tions, even  when  they  happen  to  be  less  start- 
ling in  the  degree  of  evil  which  they  cause? 
This  habit  which  the  civilized  world  received 
as  a legacy  from  the  untutored  savage  should 
be  branded  as  unworthy  the  Christian  enlight- 
enment of  the  dawning  twentieth  century. 

The  ancient  Hebrews  and  some  of  the  hea- 
then nations  kept  a perpetual  fire  burning  on 
the  altar  of  their  temples  in  which  were  con- 
sumed the  flesh  of  animals,  the  offerings  of 
the  people  to  their  divinity.  From  numberless 


The  Continual  Burnt  Offering.  53 

human  temples  in  our  land,  more  sacred  far 
than  any  pile  of  stone  adorned  with  gold, 
there  arises  a continual  cloud  of  smoke.  Not 
animals  are  the  offerings  laid  on  the  altar ; but 
homes,  books,  travel,  comforts,  luxuries,  edu- 
cation, even  necessary  food  and  clothing. 
And  these  are  offered,  year  after  year,  to  the 
god  of  appetite.  And  the  cost  of  this  offering, 
levied  largely  upon  the  wages  of  the  poor,  is 
six  hundred  million  dollars  a year. 


54 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

EXPENSIVE  AMUSEMENTS. 

The  amount  of  capital  invested  in  theaters 
and  opera  houses  in  New  York  and  Boston  is 
about  ten  million  dollars.  So  says  the  Census 
Report.  The  amount  thus  invested  throughout 
the  entire  country  is  not  less  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  millions. 

An  immense  sum  this  to  be  permanently 
locked  up  in  places  of  amusement.  An  im- 
mense sum  to  be  withdrawn  from  productive 
investment.  To  pay  for  so  large  an  outlay  and 
to  cover  the  necessary  expenses  incurred  in 
connection  with  every  entertainment,  the  re- 
ceipts at  these  places  must  be  enormous.  And 
so  they  are,  as  the  following  facts  will  show. 

The  gross  receipts  at  one  of  the  Boston 
theaters  durng  the  twelve  weeks’  course  of  a 
single  play  averaged  more  than  ten  thousand 
dollars  a week.  The  annual  receipts  at  the 
same  theater  are  considerably  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a million  dollars.  The  sum  ex- 
pended by  the  American  people  on  the  single 
amusement  of  theater-going  is  not  less  than 
twenty-five  millions  of  dollars  a year. 


Expensive  Amusements. 


55 


That  veteran  amuser  of  the  public,  Mr.  P. 
T.  Barnum,  furnishes  the  following  facts  in 
his  autobiography.  For  exhibiting  Tom 
Thumb  one  year  in  America  he  received  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  When 
he  brought  Jenny  Lind  to  this  country  his 
gross  receipts  for  six  months  were  something 
more  than  seven  hundred  and  twelve  thousand 
dollars.  The  total  number  of  tickets  sold  to 
his  various  exhibitions,  exclusive  of  his  lec- 
tures and  a few  special  entertainments,  aggre- 
gated almost  eighty-two  and  a half  millions, 
during  forty  years  of  his  career  as  a showman. 
At  a very  moderate  estimate,  his  gross  receipts 
amounted  to  an  average  of  more  than  a million 
dollars  a year. 

Now-a-days  every  city  and  considerable 
town  has  its  baseball  nine,  with  players  re- 
tained at  good  salaries.  Thousands  of  dollars 
are  taken  at  each  League  game  as  gate  money, 
and  many  more  thousands  are  lost  in  gam- 
bling. The  total  amount  taken  at  the  grounds 
of  the  Boston  baseball  club  is  estimated  at 
one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars  in  a 
single  season.  And  at  three  of  the  pool  rooms 
in  the  city,  where  much  of  the  gambling  on 
these  games  is  done,  over  a million  dollars 
changed  hands  in  one  year. 

A thriving  business  is  carried  on  in  these 
pool  rooms  and  in  the  billiard  halls  which 
abound  on  every  hand.  In  them  many  of  our 


56 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


young  men  spend  their  evenings  in  play.  They 
are  usually  found  in  connection  with  a liquor 
saloon,  and  here  the  proprietor  takes  from  his 
patrons  the  money  that  he  failed  to  win  over 
the  bar.  No  figures  are  adequate  to  set  forth 
the  amount  thus  wasted;  but  many  a young 
man  knows  from  bitter  experience  the  impov- 
erishing result  of  these  evenings  in  the  pool 
room. 

The  roller-skating  mania,  which  swept  over 
the  country  a few  years  ago,  absorbed  millions 
of  dollars  which  cannot  be  accurately  esti- 
mated. The  fashion  quickly  passed  away,  but 
various  other  forms  of  amusement  now  accom- 
plish the  same  end. 

Most  of  these  forms  of  amusement  are  found 
only  in  the  larger  towns  and  cities;  but  even 
our  country  districts  have  their  share  in  con- 
tributing to  similar  wastes.  Every  summer, 
traveling  shows  of  various  kinds  visit  all  the 
large  villages,  and  carry  away  from  each  a 
few  thousand  dollars,  the  hard-earned  savings 
of  the  farmers  and  tradesmen. 

The  greater  part  of  the  money  thus  ex- 
pended for  mere  amusement  comes  from  the 
pockets  of  the  poor  people  of  the  land.  But 
you  will  doubtless  say,  Do  not  the  poor  need 
amusement  as  well  as  the  rich?  Yes,  is  not 
the  need  even  greater  in  their  case,  since  they 
have  so  few  home  comforts  and  enjoyments, 
while  their  lives  are  filled  with  arduous  toil? 


Expensive  Amusements.  57 

Surely  we  ought  to  encourage  them  and 
help  them  to  get  all  the  pleasure  they  can 
in  life,  instead  of  frowning  upon  them.  True; 
and  if  the  poor  would  be  as  moderate  and 
as  wise  in  seeking  amusement  as  the  ma- 
jority of  their  more  wealthy  neighbors, 
they  would  not  be  so  poor.  It  is  a well-known 
fact  that  the  poor  spend  a great  deal  more 
proportionately  for  amusements  than  the  rich. 
And  it  is  this  habit  of  spending  that  makes 
them  poor.  Go  to  any  of  our  popular  play- 
houses, or  to  a ball  game,  or  to  a fair,  or  to  a 
horse  race,  and  whom  will  you  find  there? 
Many  a rich  spendthrift,  it  is  true.  Not  a few 
wealthy  pleasure  seekers.  But  mingling  with 
these,  and  vieing  with  them  in  the  expenditure 
of  money,  are  crowds  of  men  and  women  who 
scarcely  know  where  their  next  meal  is  to  come 
from;  scores  of  persons  who  have  spent  a 
large  portion  of  their  week’s  wages  for  one 
day’s  sight-seeing  or  one  evening’s  entertain- 
ment; young  men  who  cannot  pay  their  debts 
with  the  small  salaries  they  earn;  girls  who 
must  sacrifice  health  and  delay  the  purchase  of 
needed  clothing  that  they  may  have  their 
amusement;  families  that  know  nothing  of  real 
home  comfort  because  the  money  which  would 
purchase  permanent  satisfaction  is  frittered 
away  on  the  useless  and  unsatisfying  pleasures 
of  an  hour.  These  and  such  as  these  make 
up  the  greater  part  of  every  concourse  at  the 


58 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


popular  pleasure  resorts;  and  it  is  from  the 
contributions  of  poverty  that  the  managers 
derive  their  income. 

Among  the  wealthy  of  our  land  are  a goodly 
number  who  have  gotten  their  wealth  by  amus- 
ing their  fellow-men.  The  salary  of  a theatri- 
cal star  varies  from  five  hundred  to  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  a night.  The  various  classes 
of  persons  employed  in  furnishing  public 
amusement  number  more  than  twenty  thou- 
sand. And  they  are  very  properly  included  in 
the  class  of  unproductive  laborers.  Not  only 
do  they,  with  few  exceptions,  add  nothing  to 
the  wealth  of  society;  but  they  are  in  many 
ways  a drain  upon  its  resources  and  an  injury 
to  the  community.  The  life  of  a professional 
player  of  any  kind,  whether  stage  actor,  base- 
ball player,  or  buffoon,  is  demoralizing  to  the 
individual  character  and  harmful  in  its  influ- 
ence on  the  community.  This  is  true  from 
both  an  economic  and  a moral  point  of  view. 
If  we  demand  that  every  person  shall  make 
some  adequate  return  to  society  for  the  wages 
paid  him,  certainly  the  great  majority  of  these 
amusers  of  the  public  can  find  no  worthy  place 
in  Christian  society. 

The  loose  morals  of  the  theater  are  prover- 
bial. Even  the  vocation  of  a professional 
singer  is  demoralizing  to  many,  although  that 
is  certainly  one  of  the  highest  forms  of  amuse- 
ment, and  scarcely  to  be  called  an  amusement. 


Expensive  Amusements.  59 

And  as  we  descend  the  scale,  and  come  to  the 
lower  classes  of  amusement,  we  find  an  even 
lower  state  of  morals.  What  self-respecting 
man  could  devote  his  life  and  energy  to  the 
useless  profession  of  ball-playing?  Or  who 
expects  to  find  good  examples  of  morality  and 
noble  manhood  among  professional  horse 
jockeys?  The  useless  professions  are  demor- 
alizing to  those  who  engage  in  them ; and  they 
are  in  their  turn  demoralizing  in  their  in- 
fluence upon  those  who  associate  with  and  ad- 
mire them. 

Yet  we  would  not  decry  all  amusement. 
Very  far  from  it.  Rational  amusement  or 
recreation  is  essential  to  strong,  vigorous  and 
healthy  life.  It  restores  the  weary  body  and 
the  exhausted  mind,  and  gives  new  power  for 
useful  service.  The  life  which  admits  no  rec- 
reation becomes  monotonous  and  lags  in  its 
work.  “ All  work  and  no  play  makes  Jack 
a dull  boy,”  is  a proverb  that  applies  to  boys 
of  the  maturest  years.  He  works  best  who 
plays  best  when  he  plays,  who  can  at  proper 
times  throw  off  work  and  care  and  anxiety 
and  give  himself  heartily  to  simple  amusement. 
He  who  never  plays  grows  old  before  his 
time,  and  breaks  down  before  his  life  work 
is  half  completed. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  life  that  is  too  much 
given  up  to  amusement  becomes  idle  and  effem- 
inate. Some  one  has  well  said  that  “ Amuse- 
ments should  fill  the  chinks  of  life,  but  nothing 


6o 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

more.”  Yet  how  many  lives  make  amusement 
their  chief  end.  To  have  a good  time  is  the 
object  of  principal  thought  and  care.  Work 
and  duty  are  mere  secondary  considerations. 
How  many  are  more  wearied  by  their  amuse- 
ments than  by  any  work  they  ever  do.  It  is  a 
well  known  and  universally  attested  fact  that 
laboring  people  who  make  the  Sabbath  a day 
of  amusement  and  pleasure  instead  of  devoting 
it  to  sacred  rest,  come  to  their  work  on  Mon- 
day morning  in  a worse  condition  both  physi- 
cally and  mentally  than  upon  any  other  morn- 
ing during  the  week.  And  this  is  true  not 
only  of  those  who  spend  the  day  in  drinking 
and  carousal,  but  also  of  those  who  make  it  a 
day  of  pleasure  trips,  picnics  and  the  like. 
The  Sunday  excursions  and  concerts  and  enter- 
tainments that  are  advertised  as  a great  bless- 
ing to  working  people,  are  for  the  most  part 
an  injury  to  those  whom  they  attract,  draining 
their  pockets  of  their  small  earnings,  and  at  the 
same  time  depriving  them  of  much  needed  rest 
and  quiet. 

An  excessive  love  of  popular  amusements 
has  heralded  the  downfall  of  many  a nation. 
Witness  the  theaters  and  games  and  gladiato- 
rial contests  of  ancient  Rome,  and  the  bull-fights 
and  similar  amusements  of  modern  Spain.  It 
was  a shrewd  saying,  whoever  said  it,  that 
“ the  man  who  first  brought  ruin  on  the  Roman 
people  was  he  who  pampered  them  by  largesses 


Expensive  Amusements.  61 

and  amusements.”  Amusements,  when  too 
freely  indulged,  drain  the  public  as  well  as  the 
private  purse ; they  weaken  national  character ; 
they  turn  the  mind  of  the  people  away  from 
useful  subjects  and  make  life  unreal  and  mean- 
ingless. 

Doubtless  the  old  puritans  and  pilgrims 
erred  in  the  opposite  direction,  excluding  rec- 
reation and  amusement  too  rigidly  from  their 
life  and  making  it  too  solemn  and  colorless. 
Yet  they  developed  a moral  strength  and  a depth 
of  character  that  are  leavening  our  entire  na- 
tion to  this  day.  Better,  far  better,  the  exces- 
sive seriousness  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  that 
could  not  brook  the  least  degree  of  levity,  than 
the  shallow  and  frivolous  nature  that  is  per- 
petually seeking  for  amusement  and  that  has 
no  resources  of  enjoyment  within  itself. 

The  love  of  much  amusement  betokens  in 
the  individual  a thriftless  nature,  and  an  un- 
worthy indifference  to  the  grand  purposes  and 
possibilities  of  human  life.  It  indicates  a false 
ideal  of  manhood,  an  ideal  of  selfish  enjoyment 
rather  than  of  active  and  useful  accomplish- 
ment. 

It  is  not  unreasonable  then  to  include  amuse- 
ments among  the  appreciable  causes  of  poverty 
in  our  land.  They  divert  not  a little  money 
from  useful  purposes.  They  cause  a waste 
of  much  time  and  effort  that  else  might  be 
profitably  spent.  They  require  many  persons 


62 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


to  withdraw  their  skill  and  energy  from  pro- 
ductive labor  and  to  devote  their  lives  to  labor 
that  is  unproductive.  This  waste  is  closely 
allied  to  those  of  strong  drink  and  tobacco. 
It  makes  a serious  addition  to  the  expenses  of 
many  a hard-working  young  man  and  woman. 
It  empties  the  purse  of  many  a young  couple 
just  starting  out  in  life  with  small  capital. 

While  the  “ Anti-Poverty  Society  ” is  busy 
searching  for  a Grand,  Automatic,  Instantan- 
eous and  Universal  Poverty  Eradicator,  many 
a sufferer  might  be  relieved  by  the  use  of  more 
common-place  remedies.  In  ninety-nine  cases 
out  of  every  hundred  poverty  is  the  result  of 
negligence  in  trifling  matters  rather  than  any 
great  wrong  or  injustice.  The  little  foxes 
spoil  the  vines.  The  little  leaks  drain  the 
purse.  Even  such  trifling  sums  as  are  spent 
on  amusement  steal  away  the  margin  of  many 
small  incomes.  If  we  could  but  stop  these 
small  leaks,  no  great  cure  for  poverty  would  be 
needed. 


The  American  Weakness. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  AMERICAN  WEAKNESS. 

We  are  looking  for  the  Social  Millennium. 
It  has  not  come  yet;  but  many  self-inspired 
prophets  are  telling  us  what  it  will  be  like  when 
it  does  come.  Mr.  Bellamy  has  drawn  a pic- 
ture of  this  glorious  epoch  when  society  shall 
be  one  grand  eight-day  clock,  and  when  pov- 
erty shall  be  no  more.  The  theories  pro- 
pounded in  his  book,  Looking  Backward 
have  found  a ready  acceptance  in  many  minds. 
And  what  is  his  specific  for  the  cure  of  pov- 
erty ? Simply  the  allotment  of  an  equal  annual 
income  to  each  individual.  The  idea  is  plaus- 
ible and  widely  accepted.  But  every  truly  in- 
telligent student  of  social  questions  knows  that 
it  is  delusive.  We  are  confronted  every  day 
with  facts  which  prove  that  even  if  there  were 
an  absolutely  equal  distribution  of  wealth  at 
the  beginning  of  each  year  many  would  be  in 
abject  poverty  before  the  year  was  half  gone. 

Poverty  or  wealth  is  not  determined  by  in- 
come alone.  Expenditure  is  a factor  at  least 
equally  significant.  He  who  earns  ten  dollars 
a week,  and  by  the  expenditure  of  eight  dol- 


64 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


lars  secures  for  himself  and  those  dependent 
upon  him  all  needful  comforts,  is  rich.  To  earn 
ten  dollars  and  obtain  what  is  necessary  by  the 
expenditure  of  the  same  is  present  competence. 
To  earn  ten  dollars  and  spend  eleven,  or  to 
earn  ten  dollars  and  with  that  sum  fail  to  obtain 
things  necessary,  is  poverty.  Wealth  and  pov- 
erty therefore  depend  less  upon  the  absolute 
amount  of  one’s  income  than  upon  the  use 
made  of  it.  They  grow  out  of  the  proportion 
(or  disproportion)  between  income  and  ex- 
penditure. In  the  last  analysis  they  have  noth- 
ing at  all  to  do  with  money,  but  rather  with  the 
supply  of  human  needs. 

The  miser  who  starves  himself  and  pinches 
his  family  in  order  that  he  may  increase  his 
hoard  of  gold  is  poor  although  he  may  count 
his  glittering  coins  by  the  millions.  Poverty 
implies  a want  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts 
of  life,  or  a lack  of  power  to  obtain  them.  It 
matters  not  how  this  want  is  brought  about. 
It  signifies  nothing  that  one  enjoys  numberless 
luxuries  or  is  abundantly  supplied  with  the 
commonly  accepted  symbols  of  wealth;  these 
are  in  themselves  without  meaning.  If  the 
necessary  things  such  as  good  food  and  cloth- 
ing cannot  be  procured,  there  is  poverty. 

This  fact  is  often  ignored.  Families  live 
in  continual  poverty,  or  what  is  worse,  in  a 
state  of  chronic  and  incurable  debt,  because  they 
displace  necessaries  with  luxuries,  and  expend 


The  American  Weakness.  65 

their  earnings  upon  things  they  could  well 
enough  do  without  until  they  have  little  or 
nothing  left  for  the  purchase  of  those  things 
which  health  and  life  and  decency  absolutely 
require. 

In  one  of  our  New  England  towns  a family 
was  found  in  deepest  want,  without  food  or 
clothing  or  fire.  The  town  officers  at  once 
gave  them  money  enough  for  a week’s  supply 
of  food  and  fuel,  and  procured  for  them  needed 
clothing.  Instead  of  living  for  a week  upon 
the  means  thus  obtained,  the  family  expended 
the  entire  sum  of  money  in  food  and  candy  and 
fruit,  inviting  their  cronies  to  a grand  feast; 
and  in  twenty-four  hours  were  as  destitute 
as  before.  A benevolent  woman  gave  to  an- 
other suffering  family  money  sufficient  to  re- 
lieve their  distress  for  several  weeks.  What 
was  her  surprise  and  disgust,  on  visiting  them 
a couple  of  days  later,  at  being  presented  with 
a fine  photograph  of  each  member  of  the  grate- 
ful family ; the  most  of  her  money  having  gone 
for  these  instead  of  being  expended  for  food. 

This  sacrifice  of  the  necessary  for  the  un- 
necessary, of  comfort  for  luxury,  of  permanent 
good  for  temporary  enjoyment  or  trifling 
gratification,  is  a wide-spread  evil.  Among 
the  pauper  class  it  is  almost  universal.  But  it 
is  by  no  means  confined  to  them,  or  even  to 
those  who  are  called  poor.  It  is  always  an  evil, 
although  in  some  cases  the  amounts  involved 
5 


66 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

may  seem  insignificant,  and  in  others  the  indi- 
viduals may  be  considered  abundantly  able  to 
afford  such  indulgence.  In  point  of  fact  no 
individual,  however  wealthy,  can  afford  it. 
The  community  cannot  afford  it. 

Extravagance  is  a peculiarly  American 
weakness.  It  is  the  besetting  sin  of  our  people 
in  every  class  and  condition.  It  reveals  itself 
in  a variety  of  forms.  Among  the  most  com- 
mon is  a reckless  prodigality  in  the  use  of 
money.  In  the  early  days  of  California,  when 
adventurers  were  deriving  immense  fortunes  in 
a few  months  from  her  newly  discovered  gold 
fields,  the  rich  metal  was  so  abundant  that  men 
did  not  want  anything  less  valuable,  and  the 
small  silver  and  copper  coins  used  in  the  other 
states  were  tossed  contemptuously  aside  by  the 
traders  on  the  Gold  Coast. 

The  same  spirit  appears  in  more  or  less  mod- 
ified forms  in  all  parts  of  our  land.  The  real 
value  and  cumulative  power  of  small  sums  is 
not  recognized  and  they  are  allowed  to  go  to 
waste  or  are  frittered  away  carelessly.  That 
this  is  characteristic  of  our  nation  has  passed 
into  a proverb.  Among  travelers  on  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe,  Americans  are  noted  for  their 
free-handedness  in  money  matters;  and  for- 
eigners do  not  fail  to  profit  by  it.  First-class 
railway  carriages  are  patronized  by  kings  and 
Americans,  say  the  thrifty  people  of  the  Old 
World. 


The  American  Weakness.  67 

This  prodigality  is  not  confined  to  the  rich. 
It  is  characteristic  of  every  class.  In  fact  we 
might  say  that  it  is  found  most  often  among 
the  poor.  With  us  rank  is  in  a great  measure 
determined  by  external  appearances.  It  is 
therefore  the  natural  ambition  of  every  man 
and  woman  to  live  as  well  and  to  dress  as  well 
as  others  in  the  same  community.  “We  must 
keep  up  appearances,”  is  the  motto  of  the  mul- 
titude. Instead  of  regulating  expenditure  by 
income,  the  outlay  is  not  infrequently  looked 
upon  as  an  investment  made  to  secure  a higher 
position  in  society  and  a larger  income.  For 
this  reason  the  expenses  are  permitted  to  run 
in  advance  of  the  earnings,  in  the  hope  that 
the  latter  will  speedily  overtake  the  former. 
In  the  great  majority  of  such  cases  the  invest- 
ment proves  a failure ; and  when  the  meshes  of 
indebtedness  are  drawn  close  poverty  is  the 
inevitable  result.  Such  people  have  only  them- 
selves to  blame,  however.  Their  poverty  is 
the  direct  and  most  natural  result  of  their  false 
and  dishonest  mode  of  living.  The  money 
which  they  have  recklessly  expended  in  need- 
less externals,  wisely  husbanded,  would  have 
kept  them  from  want. 

If  the  evils  resulting  from  extravagance  were 
confined  in  their  effects  to  the  extravagant 
themselves  we  might  well  keep  silence  and  let 
the  disease  work  its  own  cure ; but  unfortu- 
nately this  is  not  the  case.  The  prudent  always 


68 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


suffer  more  or  less  with  the  imprudent;  the 
thrifty  with  the  unthrifty.  Persons  and 
families  go  on  year  after  year  living  beyond 
their  means  and  rolling  up  a mountain  of  debt. 
When  at  length  their  credit  is  exhausted  and 
the  crash  comes,  as  come  it  must,  all  to  whom 
they  are  indebted  suffer  through  their  inability 
to  pay  their  debts.  How  many  families  we 
may  find  in  every  community  living  in  luxury 
and  elegance,  always  dressing  in  the  height  of 
fashion  and  decking  their  tables  with  the  ear- 
liest delicacies  of  the  season,  yet  never  paying 
a debt  until  driven  to  it  by  law.  In  this  way 
they  manage  to  equal  their  more  wealthy  neigh- 
bors in  appearance,  while  their  creditors,  poor 
washer-women,  domestics,  small  traders,  and 
the  like,  pay  the  bills. 

Economy  is  not  a popular  virtue.  The 
words,  “ I cannot  afford  it,”  are  the  bete  noir 
of  Americans,  and  many  prefer  dishonest  in- 
dulgence to  a frank  acknowledgment  of  finan- 
cial limitation.  Economy  is  branded  as 
“ meanness,”  and  free-handed  prodigality,  even 
when  exercised  at  the  expense  of  honesty,  mas- 
querades as  generosity  or  benevolence. 

Extravagance  does  not,  however,  necessarily 
signify  living  beyond  one’s  means,  in  the  com- 
mon acceptation  of  that  phrase.  Every  use- 
less expenditure,  even  by  the  most  wealthy,  is 
extravagance,  and  tends  to  the  increase  of 
poverty  just  as  surely  as  does  every  expenditure 


The  American  Weakness.  69 


that  is  not  based  on  the  ability  to  pay.  Our 
country  will  become  more  prosperous,  wealth 
will  be  more  equally  distributed,  and  poverty 
will  be  less  frequent  and  less  severe,  just  in  pro- 
portion as  men  of  every  class  and  of  all  degrees 
of  wealth  become  more  truly  and  wisely  eco- 
nomical in  their  manner  of  living  the  opposite 
results  inevitably  follow  the  lavish  and  careless 
expenditure  of  money  on  the  part  of  any  class. 

By  not  a few  modern  agitators  and  pseudo- 
reformers the  free  and  unrequited  expenditure 
of  wealth  is  extolled  as  a virtue,  or  at  the  very 
least  as  a real  blessing  to  the  world.  Again 
and  again  it  is  said  of  some  reckless  spendthrift, 
“ If  his  wealth  does  no  good  to  himself,  it  is 
certainly  a great  benefit  to  his  neighbors.” 
That  which  is  obvious  waste  on  the  part  of  the 
individual  is  supposed  to  be  a real  source  of 
wealth  to  his  friends  and  the  communitv  at 
large.  A young  man  spends  his  money  freely 
for  wine,  cigars,  fast  horses,  amusements,  and 
other  things  of  like  character,  or  a lady  buys 
many  and  costly  dresses  far  beyond  her  need, 
expensive  jewelry,  elegant  ornaments,  and  the 
thoughtless  multitude  rejoices  in  the  notion  that 
this  extravagance  makes  trade  for  the  mer- 
chant and  furnishes  remunerative  employment 
for  a great  number  of  needy  workers. 

A similar  notion  has  led  to  the  suggestion 
that  in  times  of  financial  distress  the  govern- 
ment ought  to  create  sinecure  offices  and  employ 


70  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

men  to  perform  unnecessary  labor  at  good 
wages  as  a means  of  employing  idle  hands  and 
relieving  poverty. 

Born  of  the  same  parentage  is  the  popular 
doctrine  of  radical  socialists  and  anarchists  that 
the  poor  could  be  made  comfortable  and  that 
poverty  could  be  eliminated  by  confiscating  the 
wealth  of  the  Vanderbilts  and  the  Goulds  and 
the  Rothschilds  and  distributing  it  gratuitously 
among  the  poor. 

Short-sighted  economy.  No,  rather,  ridic- 
ulous extravagance ! All  such  ideas  are  diamet- 
rically opposed  to  the  first  principles  of  econ- 
omy. Wealth  and  comfort  can  never  come  from 
waste  under  any  circumstances.  The  wealthy 
prodigal  does  not  really  benefit  any  one  by  his 
needless  expenditure.  On  the  contrary  he  is  a 
source  of  unmitigated  evil.  By  his  example 
he  leads  many  poorer  men  to  involve  themselves 
in  debts  far  beyond  their  means  of  payment. 
If  he  supplies  work  to  a few  needy  laborers  it 
is  unproductive  work  which  is  demoralizing  to 
society  and  ultimately  impoverishing  to  the 
very  classes  it  is  supposed  to  benefit.  Being 
idle  himself,  he  adds  nothing  to  the  aggregate 
wealth  of  the  world,  and  every  person  employed 
by  him  in  busy  uselessness  is  hindered  from 
adding  to  that  wealth. 

The  same  is  true  of  sinecure  offices  and  use- 
less labor  performed  for  government  at  good 
salaries.  It  means  simply  the  circulation  of 


The  American  Weakness. 


7i 


money  without  any  increase  of  those  things 
which  satisfy  human  need.  Now  every  indi- 
vidual in  the  land  may  possess  millions  of 
money,  but  if  there  be  a scarcity  of  food  and 
clothing,  if  the  easily  acquired  riches  lead  to  a 
cessation  of  productive  labor,  there  would  be 
poverty  and  starvation  as  never  before,  even 
among  those  who  had  plenty  of  money  in  their 
pockets. 

And  if  we  were  to  distribute  the  millions  of 
the  very  wealthy  among  their  starving  brethren, 
what  would  be  the  result?  A few  hungry 
mouths  might  be  filled  for  a day;  but  soon 
would  come  a state  of  affairs  worse  than  has 
ever  yet  been  known.  It  is  a scheme  for  re- 
lieving poverty  which  blindly  ignores  the  causes 
and  nature  of  poverty.  As  well  attempt  to 
cure  a man  of  raging  fever  by  rolling  him 
naked  in  a snow-bank.  Just  as  surely  as  such 
treatment  would  only  aggravate  the  causes  of 
the  fever  and  render  it  more  surely  and  more 
speedily  fatal,  so  any  artificial  distribution  of 
wealth  would  aggravate  the  real  causes  of  pov- 
erty and  render  them  more  fruitful  of  misery 
and  suffering.  Such  methods  would  bring 
about  a fatal  stagnation  of  productive  activity, 
they  would  immeasurably  increase  every  form 
of  extravagance,  and  stimulate  speculation  to 
a ruinous  degree. 

As  intelligent  people  we  should  repudiate  all 
such  ideas  the  moment  they  are  uttered.  They 


72  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

are  unphilosophical,  impracticable,  and,  above 
all,  unmanly.  The  free  distribution  of  un- 
earned money,  however  the  process  might  be 
disguised,  would  bring  about  a speedy  reaction. 
It  would  involve  the  exchange  of  something  for 
nothing,  the  expenditure  of  labor  without  a 
corresponding  increase  of  production,  the  pay- 
ment of  wages  for  which  nothing  is  received 
in  return. 

Not  the  mere  scattering  of  money  makes  men 
rich;  but  the  actual  increase  and  general  dis- 
tribution of  the  comforts  and  necessaries  of  life. 
Every  hour  of  unproductive  labor  is  so  much 
total  loss  both  to  the  individual  and  to  the 
community.  Hence  only  such  expenditure  as 
tends  to  increase  the  amount  of  production  is 
really  a blessing  to  mankind  and  a relief  to 
poverty.  He  is  not  a public  benefactor  who 
scatters  gold  and  silver  broadcast  without  de- 
manding any  adequate  return.  He  is  the  true 
benefactor  who,  possessing  wealth,  spends  it 
carefully  and  requires  useful  production  in  re- 
turn for  every  dollar.  By  so  doing  he  increases 
the  general  store  of  wealth,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  furnishes  employment  to  laborers,  and 
thus  preserves  the  natural  and  stable  equilib- 
rium of  society. 

The  fortunes  which  have  been  amassed  with 
least  injury  to  the  poor  are  the  ripened  fruit  of 
economy  and  industry.  Such  fortunes  make 
other  fortunes  as  they  grow.  Their  possessors 


The  American  Weakness. 


73 


grow  rich  and  in  so  doing  enrich  all  who  come 
in  contact  with  them.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
idle  spendthrift  impoverishes  all  about  him,  and 
his  useless,  reckless  life  is  a curse  alike  to  rich 
and  poor. 

Probably  there  is  no  other  country  in  the 
world  where  poverty  is  so  frequently  the  result 
of  extravagance  as  in  America.  The  abun- 
dant resources  of  our  land  beget  in  us  as  a peo- 
ple the  love  of  liberality,  and  a contempt  for  all 
limitations  and  economies.  Our  country  is  so 
large  that  we  want  everything  on  a large  scale 
to  correspond  with  it.  We  despise  the  day  of 
small  things.  The  very  bountifulness  of  na- 
ture leads  us  to  abuse  that  bounty.  We  think 
that  the  great  store-houses  are  practically  inex- 
haustible ; and  when  there  comes  a hint  of  limi- 
tation at  some  point,  we  are  greaty  surprised. 
This  is  not,  however,  the  sober,  final  judgment 
of  intelligent  Americans.  It  is  the  impulsive 
outburst  of  startled  thoughtlessness.  When 
we  stop  to  think,  we  know  that  anything  short 
of  the  infinite  may  be  exhausted,  and  that  care- 
less waste  cannot  produce  or  preserve  wealth. 

Demagogues  may  sound  the  praise  of  extrav- 
agance, calling  it  liberality  or  benevolence, 
and  for  the  moment  they  may  carry  with  them 
the  tide  of  popular  feeling;  but  it  can  be  only 
for  the  moment.  Popular  intelligence  quickly 
unmasks  the  sham,  and  the  truth  is  revealed 
clear  as  the  noon-day.  Not  extravagance  but 


74 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


economy  on  the  part  of  all  is  the  sure  and  effec- 
tive antidote  for  poverty.  The  Social  Millen- 
nium is  coming;  but  not  immediately.  And 
when  it  does  come  its  watchword  will  be 
Economy. 


The  Penalty  of  Ignorance. 


75 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  PENALTY  OF  IGNORANCE. 

Nearly  five  millions  of  people  over  ten  years 
of  age  who  cannot  read , and  six  millions  who 
cannot  write.  This  in  enlightened  America, 
according  to  official  statistics.  Most  of  these 
are  to  be  found  among  the  poorer  classes  of  our 
population  as  a matter  of  course.  Many  of 
them  are  paupers.  What  else  could  we  reason- 
ably expect  ? The  parents  who  allow  their 
child  to  neglect  his  school  privileges  on  any 
pretence  whatsoever  are  doing  their  utmost  to 
fit  him  for  a position  in  the  poor-house. 

An  investigation  which  was  made  a few  years 
ago  in  the  alms-houses  of  New  York  revealed 
the  fact  that  narly  one-third  of  the  occupants 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  only  thirty 
per  cent,  had  received  a fair  common-school 
education.  And  the  New  York  alms-houses 
are  not  peculiar  in  this  respect.  Any  one  who 
is  at  all  familiar  with  the  facts  knows  that  the 
same  figures  would  fairly  represent  the  propor- 
tions among  the  paupers  of  any  state  in  the 
Union. 

These  statistics  indicate  very  clearly  the  nat- 


76 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


ural  connection  between  ignorance,  in  the  sense 
of  illiteracy,  and  poverty.  The  two  go  hand 
in  hand.  The  sequence  of  cause  and  effect  is 
too  clear  to  admit  of  doubt.  Says  Dr.  Behrends, 
a most  careful  and  scholarly  writer  on  social 
questions,  “ Illiteracy,  intemperance,  over- 
crowding, and  the  looseness  of  the  marriage 
tie, — these  are  the  four  social  causes  of  pauper- 
ism ; personal  vices  in  their  inception,  but 
grown  to  their  present  alarming  proportions  by 
public  indifference  and  complicity  ; and  so- 
ciety must  throttle  them,  or  perish  under  their 
growing  fangs/' 

This  phase  of  the  subject  requires  neither 
argument  nor  elaboration  in  these  pages.  It 
has  been  fully  treated  by  others.  Authorita- 
tive statistics  have  been  gathered  and  published 
to  the  world.  The  facts  are  self-evident,  and 
the  remedy  for  the  evil  is  not  less  so.  Only 
the  general  diffusion  of  ordinary  learning  can 
counteract  the  danger  growing  out  of  illiteracy ; 
and  our  public  schools  wisely  sustained  are 
gradually  accomplishing  this  work.  With 
pardonable  pride  we  boast  of  our  public  schools 
and  rely  upon  them  as  a source  of  national 
strength  and  safety.  It  is  not  enough  however 
that  such  schools  exist,  not  enough  that  they 
are  of  a high  order,  well  supplied  with  teachers 
and  apparatus.  Their  influence  must  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  every  child.  Education 
must  be  compulsory  not  merely  in  name  but 


The  Penalty  of  Ignorance.  77 

in  reality.  Popular  opinion  must  strongly  sus- 
tain the  enforcement  of  truant  laws  in  every 
community.  Well  would  it  be  if  a strict  edu- 
cational test  of  suffrage  coqld  be  applied.  It 
would  drive  the  worst  elements  from  our  poli- 
tics. It  would  curtail  the  power  of  dema- 
gogues, and  political  tricksters  and  wire-pull- 
ers would  lose  their  control  over  many  of  our 
cities  and  large  towns  where  now  they  reign 
triumphant.  It  would  give  to  the  ballot  a 
higher  significance  and  value  than  it  possesses 
under  the  present  system.  Universal  suffrage 
is  a grand  ideal  when  it  is  accompanied  by  uni- 
versal intelligence;  but  power  in  the  hands  of 
the  ignorant  is  always  a source  of  danger  to 
society. 

There  are,  however,  other  forms  of  ignor- 
ance besides  illiteracy  that  bear  with  equal  di- 
rectness and  force  upon  the  question  of  poverty. 
Learned  ignorance  is  no  less  disastrous  than 
unlearned  ignorance,  nor  is  it  less  common.  A 
great  deal  of  practical  ignorance  may  be 
found  among  the  graduates  of  our  grammar 
and  high  schools;  yes,  even  among  our  uni- 
versity graduates.  The  degree  of  Ph.  D., 
D.  D.,  or  LL.  D.,  is  no  guarantee  of  practi- 
cal knowledge  or  sound  common  sense.  A 
knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek,  of  Astronomy 
or  Mathematics,  is  not  all  that  is  necessary  to 
enable  a person  to  work  successfully  or  profit- 
ably. In  fact  a man  may  be  familiar  with  a 


78 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


dozen  language  and  as  many  sciences,  and  yet 
be  unable  to  earn  a decent  living  for  himself 
and  his  family.  With  all  his  learning  he  may  be 
as  ignorant  as  a babe  in  arms  of  all  useful  arts 
and  occupations.  And,  again,  one  may  receive 
a large  income  and  live  in  poverty  the  while 
because  he  is  ignorant  of  the  art  of  spending 
money. 

And  the  art  of  spending  is  no  less  essential  to 
comfort  and  wealth  than  the  art  of  earning. 
Not  many  years  ago  a professor  of  Mathe- 
matics in  one  of  our  leading  colleges  became 
suddenly  bankrupt,  and  was  found  to  be  so 
seriously  involved  that  he  was  dismissed  from 
his  position  in  the  college.  What  was  the 
trouble?  He  had  received  a salary  ample  for 
the  needs  of  his  family.  As  a mathematician 
he  held  a high  rank  and  was  known  throughout 
the  country.  But  in  matters  of  business  he  was 
deplorably  ignorant.  He  did  not  know  how  to 
save  money  or  how  to  spend  it  profitably.  He 
was  poor  on  a salary  that  should  have  sup- 
plied every  need  and  left  a good  margin  for 
old  age.  More  than  one  Doctor  of  Divinity 
receiving  a large  salary  in  the  prominent  pul- 
pits of  our  land  is  obliged  to  have  his  debts 
liquidated  at  frequent  intervals  by  some 
wealthy  and  kind-hearted  parishioner,  because 
of  his  culpable  ignorance  of  business  affairs  and 
his  neglect  properly  to  regulate  the  relation  be- 
tween income  and  outgo. 


The  Penalty  of  Ignorance. 


79 


To  be  ignorant  of  the  art  of  earning  money 
is  an  evil.  To  be  ignorant  of  the  art  of  spend- 
ing is  also  an  evil.  But  when  the  two  forms 
of  ignorance  meet  in  one  individual,  the  case  is 
a sad  one  indeed.  If  a laborer  from  want  of 
skill  is  able  to  earn  but  small  wages,  and  then 
does  not  know  how  to  use  his  limited  means 
advantageously  so  as  to  procure  the  greatest 
possible  return  for  his  outlay,  he  is  doubly  poor. 
And  poverty  of  this  sort  is  by  no  means  in- 
frequent. Read  the  many  tales  of  suffering 
and  want  in  our  great  cities,  and  in  the  ma- 
jority of  cases  ignorance  will  reveal  itself  at 
every  turn  as  the  one  chief  source  of  misery. 
The  wages  of  many  a toiler  are  small,  pitifully 
small,  we  must  confess.  Often  they  are  no 
adequate  return  for  the  work  done.  Yet,  small 
as  they  are,  if  wisely  and  economically  ex- 
pended, they  would  purchase  many  comforts, 
Instead  of  this,  however,  they  are  frittered 
away  on  useless  luxuries,  unwholesome  food, 
showy  but  useless  adornment,  until  nothing 
is  left  for  the  necessaries  of  life.  A knowl- 
edge of  the  relative  value  of  the  different  kinds 
of  food  and  clothing,  a little  skill  in  using  rem- 
nants, would  be  to  many  of  these  sufferers  an 
unspeakable  blessing.  It  would  add  far  more 
to  their  real  wealth  than  a hundred  per  cent, 
increase  in  wages. 

Attempts  have  been  made  by  some  of  the 
more  kindly  disposed  and  far-seeing  employers 


8o 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

to  improve  the  condition  of  those  who  work 
for  them  by  providing  wholesome  diet  and 
regulating  the  conditions  of  labor.  But  it  not 
seldom  happens  that  these  well-meant  and 
wisely  directed  efforts  arouse  strong  opposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  working  men  and 
women  whom  they  are  designed  to  benefit.  In 
many  cases  they  have  been  abandoned  on  this 
account.  Ignorance  is  conservative  and  suspi- 
cious. It  does  not  look  with  favor  on  new 
ideas.  It  has  blocked  the  pathway  of  every 
useful  and  labor-saving  invention.  Every 
movement,  even  of  the  purest  philanthropy 
and  benevolence,  has  encountered  in  this  the 
most  serious  of  all  obstacles.  Ignorance  is 
ever  ready  to  question  and  suspect  all  plans 
suggested  by  employers.  It  creates  a fancied 
antagonism  of  interests,  and  lives  in  a constant 
state  of  imaginary  warfare,  always  on  the 
lookout  for  tricks  and  strategy,  but  never 
ready  to  accept  friendly  overtures  in  good 
faith. 

The  obstinacy  of  ignorance,  and  the  blind- 
ness with  which  it  will  oppose  the  best  designs, 
are  really  marvelous.  Mrs.  Campbell,  in  her 
Prisoners  of  Poverty , tells  of  a small  manu- 
facturer in  New  York  who  endeavored  to  bet- 
ter the  condition  of  his  operatives,  and  how 
his  plans  were  frustrated  by  their  ignorant  op- 
position and  foolish  suspicions.  First,  he 
tried  to  improve  the  sanitary  condition  of  his 


The  Penalty  of  Ignorance.  81 

work-rooms  in  the  matter  of  ventilation.  To 
the  women  and  girls,  however,  pure  air  meant 
only  cold  air,  and  every  window  left  open  they 
carefully  and  tightly  closed.  It  was  only  when 
he  so  arranged  his  ventilators  that  the  girls 
could  not  reach  them  that  they  would  allow 
themselves  the  blessing  of  fresh  air.  Then  he 
provided  good  coffee,  soup,  and  bread,  to  take 
the  place  of  the  pies,  cakes,  and  confectionery 
that  most  of  them  were  in  the  habit  of  eating. 
These  he  sold  at  cost,  so  that  while  they  were 
more  wholesome  and  strengthening  they  were 
also  cheaper  than  the  sweetmeats.  But  the 
girls  only  laughed  at  him  and  abused  his  kind- 
ness to  such  a degree  that  he  was  at  length 
compelled  to  forego  his  efforts  in  this  direc- 
tion. Finally  he  endeavored  to  instruct  his 
employees  and  offered  them  a system  of  co- 
operation; but  all  in  vain.  In  every  thing 
they  saw  not  a plan  for  their  good,  but  some 
scheme  for  the  employer’s  profit.  At  every 
turn  they  imagined  that  he  was  trying  to  take 
advantage  of  their  helplessness  and  to  deprive 
them  of  a portion  of  the  wages  they  had  fairly 
earned.  Thus  their  ignorance  and  unreason- 
ing prejudice  defeated  an  honest  attempt  to 
improve  the  condition  of  the  persons  employed 
by  that  firm. 

Is  it  strange  that  employers  are  slow  to 
adopt  new  methods  and  are  sometimes  in- 
different to  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  those 
6 


82 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


under  them,  when  the  most  unquestionable 
kindness  and  friendly  intent  is  met  with  sus- 
picion and  rebuff  ? The  selfishness  and 
wrong-doing  are  not  all  on  the  side  of  em- 
ployers in  this  matter.  Many  workmen  are 
themselves  chiefly  to  blame  for  the  ills  they 
suffer. 

The  one  story  might  be  repeated  many  times 
with  but  slight  changes  of  detail;  for  such 
cases  are  by  no  means  rare.  Any  one  who 
will  interest  himself  in  the  subject  may  find 
similar  instances  by  the  score  in  which  poverty 
and  its  consequences  would  be  removed  or  at 
least  very  greatly  alleviated  if  the  poor  would 
only  receive  without  prejudice  the  suggestions 
of  those  who  are  better  informed  than  them- 
selves. Untold  suffering  might  be  averted  if 
persons  of  very  limited  means  knew  the  differ- 
ence between  wholesome  and  unwholesome 
food,  between  showy  and  durable  or  comfortable 
clothing,  and  between  good  and  bad  air.  The 
best  is  often  the  cheapest  even  in  the  first  out- 
lay; and  it  is  always  so  in  the  end.  Pure  air, 
comfortable  clothing  and  wholesome  food  are 
the  indispensable  requisites  for  sound  health  ; 
and  poverty  rests  lightly  on  the  shoulders  of 
a strong  and  healthy  man.  Want  is  the  nat- 
ural child  of  disease,  and  it  is  frequently  per- 
petuated by  utter  ignorance  and  neglect  of  the 
laws  of  hygiene. 

Poverty  does  not  consist  in  the  mere  lack  of 


The  Penalty  of  Ignorance.  83 

money.  It  signifies  rather  the  inability  to 
satisfy  personal  needs.  One  can  get  along 
very  well  without  money,  if  he  have  sufficient 
food  and  clothing  and  other  comforts.  The 
person  who  earns  twenty  dollars  per  week,  but 
is  unable  to  satisfy  his  needs  therewith,  to 
provide  himself  with  palatable  and  nourishing 
food  and  to  obtain  clothing  which  shall  pro- 
tect him  from  the  stress  of  the  weather,  is 
poorer  than  his  neighbor  who,  with  only  five 
dollars  a week,  is  able  to  procure  these  things. 

And  it  is  just  at  this  point  that  ignorance 
affects  the  problem  of  poverty.  Men  and 
women  do  not  know  how  to  use  their  money 
so  that  their  real  wants  shall  be  supplied. 
They  buy  expensive  food  that  does  not  nourish 
them.  They  starve  even  while  they  eat.  Or 
they  purchase  clothing  that  has  a stylish  ap- 
pearance ; but  they  know  nothing  of  its  quality, 
and  it  quickly  wears  out.  They  waste  money 
for  expensive  amusements  that  do  not  afford 
true  rest  or  recreation,  or  they  squander  it 
upon  useless  articles,  and  then  wonder  why 
they  are  so  poor.  The  real  wonder  is  that 
they  make  out  to  live  at  all. 

To  cure  this  poverty-breeding  ignorance  we 
need  education  at  once  more  universal  and 
more  practical.  Our  boys  and  girls  must  not 
devote  their  years  of  study  wholly  to  acquiring 
accomplishments.  They  must  learn  those 
things  which  will  enable  them  to  cope  with  the 


84  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

problems  of  daily  life.  sWe  have  not  a word 
to  say  against  the  higher  branches  of  learn- 
ing, so  called.  They  have  their  place.  But 
they  should  not  usurp  the  place  that  belongs 
of  right  to  something  else.  The  man  who  has 
spent  his  life  delving  in  Latin  or  Hebrew  or 
Sanskrit,  and  does  not  know  how  to  handle 
a saw  and  hammer,  or  cannot  tell  the  differ- 
ence between  shoddy  and  durable  cloth  is  a 
fit  candidate  for  the  poor-house.  The  young 
man  who,  after  spending  seven  or  eight  years 
at  the  highest  institutions  of  learning,  looks 
upon  a cash  account  as  an  unfathomable  mys- 
tery, is  lamentably  ignorant  in  spite  of  his 
learning.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
woman  who  can  play  the  piano  and  sing  di- 
vinely, or  talk  fluently  in  French  or  German, 
but  who  knows  nothing  of  the  science  of  house.- 
keeping  and  can  neither  bake  a respectable  loaf 
of  bread  nor  choose  a profitable  cut  of  beef. 

Children  should  be  taught  how  to  spend 
money,  as  well  as  how  to  earn  it.  The  two 
arts  are  of  equal  importance.  They  must  be 
taught  the  practical  matters  of  daily  life,  the 
necessities  of  our  human  nature.  Hygiene  and 
household  economy  must  not  be  neglected  for 
more  trifling  matters.  They  must  study  the 
construction  of  the  human  body,  what  are  its 
requirements,  and  how  these  may  be  most 
easily  and  perfectly  satisfied.  They  must  learn 
the  comparative  value  of  different  articles  of 


The  Penalty  of  Ignorance.  85 

food  and  clothing.  These  and  many  similar 
matters  should  be  considered  of  first  impor- 
tance in  our  public  school  education.  After 
they  are  thoroughly  learned,  as  much  else  may 
be  added  as  the  taste  and  means  of  the  indi- 
vidual warrant.  In  the  school  of  the  future 
Domestic  Economy  must  have  a more  honor- 
able place  than  the  Classics,  and  the  art  of 
Book-keeping  than  the  Analytical  Calculus. 
As  our  people  become  more  generally  educated 
along  these  practical  lines,  we  shall  in  a cor- 
responding degree  overcome  that  form  of  ig- 
norance which  is  a most  fruitful  source  of 
poverty. 


86 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BABELISM. 

The  story  of  Babel  is  familiar.  The  oldest 
of  economic  writers  has  told  us  in  a some- 
what legendary  fashion  how  mankind  at  a very 
early  period  determined  to  live  together  in 
one  vast  city  with  a conspicuous  central  tower, 
which  might  serve  as  a guide  to  any  wanderer 
to  bring  him  home  again.  He  also  records 
how  this  plan  was  defeated  as  utterly  sub- 
versive of  the  best  interests  of  the  race.  Elim- 
inating all  merely  traditional  or  supernatural 
elements,  the  story  is  marvelously  true  to  life, 
and  is  an  economic  parable  that  will  bear 
close  study  to-day. 

Every  student  of  social  questions  must  ob- 
serve with  anxiety  the  rapid  growth  of  large 
cities  in  our  land.  Men  and  women  from  all 
parts  of  the  country  crowd  together  into  Bos- 
ton, New  York,  Chicago,  and  other  chosen 
centers  at  a rate  wholly  unknown  in  other 
countries.  London  and  Paris  are  the  growth 
of  many  centuries,  while  New  York  has  ex- 
isted less  than  two  centuries,  and  Chicago  has 


Babelism. 


87 


just  passed  her  first  half  century.  Yet  these 
latter  cities  already  present  many  of  the  diffi- 
culties that  are  found  in  those  across  the  sea, 
and  in  some  points  they  are  even  worse. 

New  York  surpasses  London  in  illustrations 
of  the  possible  density  of  population.  In  one 
ward  the  rate  is  203,000  souls  to  the  square 
mile;  in  another,  208,000;  in  another,  243,- 
000;  and  in  one  section  the  population  is 
crowded  in  at  the  rate  of  370,000  persons  to 
the  square  mile. 

The  worst  phase  of  city  life  is  found  in  the 
tenement  houses,  where  whole  families  are 
crowded  together  in  single  rooms,  and  the 
most  ordinary  decency  is  impossible.  Think 
of  nine  persons  sleeping,  eating,  and  prepar- 
ing food  in  a room  eight  feet  by  twelve  and 
scarcely  high  enough  to  allow  its  occupants  to 
stand  erect.  Imagine  the  conditions  of  life 
where  fourteen  persons  of  both  sexes  and 
of  ages  varying  from  nine  years  to  adult  man- 
hood and  womanhood  herd  together  in  a cellar 
without  divisions  or  partitions  of  any  kind. 
Hundreds  of  people  are  found  living  in  tene- 
ment houses  with  an  average  of  six  persons 
to  a room. 

What  results  must  we  expect  as  inevitable, 
both  moral  and  physical,  from  such  indecent 
and  unhealthy  overcrowding?  Can  we  wonder 
that  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  children  born  in 
such  quarters  die  at  a very  early  age?  Is  it 


88 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

surprising  that  such  as  survive  and  come  to 
maturity  so  often  give  themselves  to  lives  of 
sin  and  crime?  Not  at  all.  It  could  not  in 
the  nature  of  things  be  otherwise.  Healthy 
bodies  and  pure  minds  cannot  long  exist  in 
an  atmosphere  so  foul  and  amid  surroundings 
so  brutalizing.  This  overcrowded  tenement 
house  life  is  one  of  the  most  serious  obstacles 
to  social  progress  and  to  moral  reform;  for 
its  tendency  is  to  debase  men  in  every  way, 
and  to  propagate  disease  and  crime.  Poverty 
is  serious  enough  under  the  best  of  circum- 
stances; but  its  harmful  power  and  its  hope- 
lessness are  incalculably  increased  when  it 
brings  men  into  such  surroundings  that  they 
lose  their  true  manhood  and  become  mere  ani- 
mals. Then  poverty  tends  to  perpetuate  itself 
with  all  its  attendant  evils.  To  mere  material 
want  are  added  moral,  intellectual  and  spirit- 
ual poverty.  It  is  therefore  no  overdrawn 
figure  of  speech  to  call  our  cities  “ plague  spots 
on  the  surface  of  our  modern  society.” 

This  evil  of  Babelism,  or  the  centralizing  of 
population  in  cities,  is  rapidly  increasing.  One 
hundred  years  ago,  but  little  more  than  three 
per  cent,  of  our  population  lived  in  cities  of 
eight  thousand  or  more  inhabitants.  Now 
nearly  twenty-five  per  cent,  is  gathered  in  such 
cities.  Since  the  opening  of  the  present  cen- 
tury the  number  of  these  cities  has  increased 
from  six  to  nearly  two  hundred  and  ninety. 


Babelism.  89 

And  the  process  of  centralization  goes  on  with 
constantly  increasing  rapidity. 

Almost  every  form  of  danger  that  threatens 
American  society  and  that  complicates  the 
problem  of  labor  and  poverty  is  found  en- 
trenched most  strongly  in  the  city.  The  city 
is  the  center  of  anarchism,  of  crime,  of  poverty 
and  of  intemperance.  Riots  and  destructive 
strikes  are  almost  wholly  confined  to  the  cities. 
Every  radical  movement  has  its  birth  and  finds 
its  most  vigorous  support  in  the  cities.  The 
worst  elements  of  society,  the  criminals,  the 
idlers,  the  lawless,  crowd  to  the  cities,  be- 
cause in  the  bustle  and  crowd  of  city  life  they 
may  the  more  easily  escape  from  the  public 
gaze,  and  may  carry  on  their  unlawful  work 
with  greater  success  and  safety.  These  classes 
are  ever  ready  to  participate  in  disorder  and 
riot  and  to  urge  on  all  disturbances  that  will 
afford  them  better  facilities  for  plunder.  Ip. 
our  country  villages  and  smaller  towns  there 
is  little  discontent,  little  unrest,  little  danger; 
for  it  is  there  that  we  find  the  greatest  propor- 
tion of  intelligence  and  the  most  strongly  de- 
veloped characer.  The  rural  districts  contain 
the  conservative  and  the  conserving  elements 
of  our  population. 

Again,  it  is  in  our  large  cities  that  we  find 
the  most  glaring  inequality  of  condition. 
There  social  lines  are  most  distinctly  drawn 
There  is  poverty  the  most  intense,  and  there  is 


90 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


greatest  wealth  and  luxury.  Millionaires 
flourish  best  in  the  golden  soil  of  the  city ; and 
only  the  hardening  influences  of  city  life  and 
the  busy  struggle  for  wealth  can  grind  men 
down  to  the  bitterest  poverty. 

With  all  the  forces  of  evil  doubly  active  in 
the  city,  we  find  the  proportion  of  counteract- 
ing forces  very  much  smaller  than  in  the 
country.  There  are  about  four  times  as  many 
churches  in  proportion  to  the  population  in  the 
country  as  in  the  city ; and  the  influence  of  the 
Christian  church  is  of  necessity  less  far  reach- 
ing in  the  more  thickly  populated  communities. 
The  life  of  the  city  is  more  selfish  and  less 
sympathetic  than  is  country  life.  Men  know 
little,  and  often  care  less,  about  the  condition 
and  needs  of  their  neighbors ; and  when  Chris- 
tian workers  really  desire  to  seek  out  needy 
ones,  it  requires  much  persistent  effort  to  dis- 
cover the  real  condition  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  people.  It  is  easy  for  persons  who  are 
so  disposed  to  avoid  notice  in  the  crowded  city, 
so  that  the  Christian  church  fails  to  reach 
many  notwithstanding  her  rrtost  untiring 
watchfulness  in  this  respect. 

There  is  none  of  the  intense  suffering  and 
poverty  and  little  of  the  temptation  in  the 
country  villages  that  are  so  familiar  to  many 
of  the  inhabitants  of  every  great  city.  Yet 
thousands  of  the  young  men  and  women  of  our 
hill  towns  are  ambitious  to  see  city  life;  and 


Babelism. 


9i 


they  leave  happiness  and  comfort  and  respect- 
ability behind  very  often,  and  seek  the  excite- 
ment of  the  city,  for  which  sight  not  a few 
pay  the  price  of  poverty  and  suffering.  City 
life  looks  wonderfully  attractive  at  a distance; 
but  the  nearer  view  is  often  a disillusion.  It 
would  be  very  well  if  every  restless  young  per- 
son plodding  safely  and  comfortably  along  in 
the  country,  could  read  two  books  that  tell  the 
story  of  city  life  as  no  fiction  could  do.  I 
refer  to  The  Bitter  Cry  of  Outcast  London, 
and  Mrs.  Campbell’s  Prisoners  of  Poverty. 
The  former  tells  the  story  of  the  real  inner 
life  of  many  London  toilers;  and  the  latter 
portrays  a few  of  the  trials  of  the  poor  work- 
ing girls  in  New  York.  A glimpse  at  these 
stern  realities  might  serve  to  dispel  in  some 
measure  the  illusions  that  prevail  regarding 
the  delights  of  city  life.  It  might  exert  some 
slight  influence  in  counteracting  the  fatal 
tendency  towards  centralization. 

At  the  present  time  many  earnest  men  and 
women  are  studying  the  problems  of  city  life, 
the  tenement  houses,  the  sweating  establish- 
ments, and  similar  evils,  in  the  hope  of  bring- 
ing relief  to  the  sufferers.  Dishonest  and  op- 
pressive methods  are  being  exposed;  unright- 
eous practises  are  being  denounced,  and  better 
plans  and  conditions  suggested.  But  all  these 
things  fall  far  short  of  meeting  the  difficulty. 
The  evil  lies  not  in  any  individual  or  in  any 


92 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

method.  It  lies  in  the  city  itself  and  in  the 
tendency  of  men  and  women  to  come  together 
in  unduly  large  numbers. 

The  earth  is  the  sole  reservoir  of  human 
wealth.  Our  riches  are  derived  from  the 
farms,  the  plantations,  the  ranches,  the  forests, 
the  mines,  and  the  fisheries.  Not  a dollar 
comes  from  any  other  source.  The  wealth 
actually  created  in  all  our  cities  combined  is 
insignificant.  They  are  merely  centers  of  dis- 
tribution. The  country,  the  country  is  the 
source  of  all  wealth.  The  nation  grows  rich 
according  to  the  measure  in  which  we  develop 
the  resources  of  the  earth.  The  people  will 
be  comfortable  when  a sufficient  number  are 
employed  in  this  work  of  creating  wealth  from 
the  natural  sources.  Of  course  we  need  a 
certain  number  of  indirect  producers.  We 
need  men  and  women  to  manufacture  the  raw 
material,  to  transport  productions  from  one 
part  of  the  country  to  another,  to  carry  on  the 
necessary  lines  of  exchange ; but  these  should  be 
as  few  as  possible.  It  is  a self-evident  propo- 
sition that  we  need  many  more  producers  than 
distributors.  The  great  majority  of  our  peo- 
ple ought  to  be  engaged  in  direct  production 
of  some  sort.  But  are  they?  The  fact  that 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  our  population  is  col- 
lected in  cities  implies  that  at  least  one  person 
in  every  four  is  merely  a distributor.  It  really 
implies  much  more  than  this.  For  while  every 


Babelism. 


93 


dweller  in  the  city  is  a distributor  in  some 
sort,  not  every  dweller  in  the  country  is  a di- 
rect producer.  The  smallest  village  must  have 
its  traders  and  manufacturers  and  professional 
men  of  various  kinds.  When  all  these  are 
taken  into  the  account  we  have  reduced  the 
number  of  direct  producers  to  an  alarming  ex- 
tent. 

The  gravitation  towards  the  cities  means  a 
constant  diminishing  of  direct  production,  and 
a constant  increase  of  distribution.  No  very 
keen  insight  is  required  to  foresee  the  inevi- 
table result.  When  for  any  reason  the  pro- 
duction falls  short,  or  the  wheels  of  commerce 
are  blocked,  or  at  any  point  the  number  of  in- 
direct producers  passes  the  limit  of  forbearance, 
then  comes  poverty;  and  those  non-producers 
who  are  farthest  from  the  sources  of  supply, 
in  other  words  the  city-dwellers,  are  driven 
to  the  point  of  starvation.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  abject  poverty  and  starvation  in  the 
country  because  people  there  are  in  direct  con- 
tact with  the  great  reservoir  of  wealth,  and  in 
the  hardest  times  they  will  be  able  to  secure 
enough  to  save  them  from  actual  suffering. 

It  is  said  that  by  a very  reasonable  estimate 
the  agricultural  resources  of  America  are  ca- 
pable of  feeding  one  billion  people.  And  that 
with  our  other  resources  they  may  not  only  be 
sustained  but  enriched.  To  accomplish  this, 
however,  the  resources  must  be  developed. 


94 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


We  must  be  a nation  of  farmers  and  miners 
and  herdsmen  and  the  like  rather  than  a nation 
of  shopkeepers  and  speculators.  We  must  put 
a premium  upon  country  life,  and  endeavor  to 
make  it  as  attractive  as  city  life,  that  our  young 
men  may  be  held  to  the  soil,  instead  of  seeking 
the  counting-house  and  the  yard-stick. 

The  social  system  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
nation  was  a model  of  economic  wisdom. 
Every  family  had  an  inheritance  of  land  which 
could  not  be  permanently  alienated.  And 
thus  each  individual  had  some  direct  interest 
in  agrarian  pursuits,  and  the  collecting  of  the 
people  into  a few  large  cities  was  impossible. 

Our  own  social  system  is  totally  different, 
and  we  cannot  say  that  it  is  in  all  respects 
better.  In  common  with  many  other  peoples 
we  discriminate  against  the  producing  classes 
and  put  a premium  on  non-production.  The 
farmer  is  handicapped  in  the  race  for  wealth, 
and  feels  that  he  could  enjoy  many  more  com- 
forts and  luxuries  if  he  were  a trader.  The 
artisan  cannot  hope  to  vie  with  the  speculator 
in  the  matter  of  acquisition.  The  most  insig- 
nificant dry-goods  clerk  in  the  metropolis  en- 
joys privileges  for  which  his  unspeakably  more 
useful  country  brother  longs  in  vain.  Thus 
has  grown  up  the  strong  tide  of  population  set- 
ting towards  the  city. 

Before  the  problem  of  poverty  is  solved  this 
tendency  must  be  counteracted.  So  long  as 
the  centralizing  of  population  and  the  process 


Babelism. 


95 


of  crowding  continues  the  most  untiring  ef- 
forts of  scholars  and  philanthropists  will  be  in- 
sufficient to  cope  with  the  resulting  evils. 
When  the  supply  of  workers  far  exceeds  the 
demand  no  human  power  can  prevent  ruinous 
competition  nor  save  the  workers  from  pov- 
erty. It  is  not  enough,  therefore,  that  we 
organize  societies  and  frame  laws  to  protect 
these  workers  from  injustice,  that  we  teach 
them  economy,  that  we  seek  to  improve  their 
condition.  All  these  things  will  be  powerless 
to  relieve  poverty,  so  long  as  the  ultimate  cause 
exists.  We  must  go  deeper.  We  must  strike 
at  the  root  of  the  matter,  and  prevent  the 
crowding  before  we  can  hope  to  obviate  its  re- 
sults. 

It  may  be  that  the  doctrines  of  Mr.  Henry 
George  would  find  a practical  interpretation  in 
this  light.  The  tariff  question  too  might  as- 
sume a different  aspect  if  viewed  from  this 
standpoint.  But  whatever  be  the  means,  this 
should  be  the  end  of  our  striving, — to  reduce 
to  the  minimum  this  centralizing  force,  and  to 
scatter  our  population  in  the  villages.  Every 
movement  that  stops  short  of  this  must  be 
partial  and  ineffective.  The  city  threatens  the 
safety  of  our  government,  the  stability  of  our 
social  institutions,  the  comfort  and  happiness 
of  our  people.  Before  the  danger  can  be  met 
and  the  evils  removed  the  American  people 
must  thoroughly  learn  the  lesson  of  the  T ozver 
of  Babel . 


96 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

AVERSION  TO  MANUAL  LABOR. 

“Whoever  does  not  teach  his  son  a trade, 
teaches  him  to  steal said  Rabbi  Hillel.  The 
proverb  is  just  as  true  for  Americans  as  for 
Hebrews.  For  proof  consult  the  pauper  and 
criminal  statistics  of  our  land.  Of  our  pau- 
pers, nearly  sixty  per  cent,  never  had  any 
training  in  manual  labor.  And  more  than 
eighty-five  per  cent,  of  our  criminals  are  per- 
sons who  have  not  received  an  industrial  edu- 
cation. The  prison  records  of  one  state  reveal 
the  fact  that  but  little  over  five  per  cent,  of 
the  entire  number  of  prisoners  had  learned  a 
trade.  It  is  a significant  fact  that  nearly  one 
half  of  the  criminals  of  the  country  are  chil- 
dren of  mechanics  who  neglected  to  teach  their 
sons  a trade. 

Says  Dr.  Behrends:  “Of  the  1,759  inmates 
of  the  Elmira  Reformatory  only  18  8-10  per 
cent,  had  ever  been  engaged  in  mechanical 
work,  while  78  4-10  per  cent,  had  been  com- 
mon laborers,  servants,  and  clerks,  though  the 
ancestral  history  revealed  the  fact  that  41  6-10 


Aversion  to  Manual  Labor.  97 

per  cent,  had  come  from  the  homes  of  me- 
chanics. The  disclosures  of  the  Philadelphia 
prison  tables  are  even  more  startling.  Of  the 
2,127  inmates,  1,939  were  found  never  to  have 
been  apprenticed ; 75  were  apprenticed,  but  left 
before  their  terms  of  service  had  expired,  and 
only  1 13  had  learned  a trade, — a little  more 
than  five  per  cent,  of  the  entire  number.  . . . 
The  ranks  of  crime  are  mainly  recruited  from 
those  who  never  had  a mechanical  training. 
....  Our  penitentiaries  second  the  admon- 
ition that  comes  from  the  alms-houses, — intro- 
duce manual  training  into  the  public  schools 
even  at  the  sacrifice  of  grammar  and  cube 
root.” 

Among  the  Jews  work  was  esteemed  hon- 
orable, and  the  rich  and  poor,  the  learned  and 
the  unlearned,  all  recognized  the  worth  and 
respectability  of  manual  labor.  Each  man 
learned  some  form  of  handicraft,  even  though 
it  did  not  appear  that  he  would  ever  need  to 
exercise  it.  The  apostle  Paul  was  a tent 
maker.  The  rabbi  Hillel  was  a woodcutter. 
Shammai  was  a carpenter.  The  highest  men 
in  the  nation  were  smiths,  masons,  tailors,  and 
handworkers  of  some  sort.  It  is  a fact  of  no 
slight  significance  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a 
carpenter,  and  that  He  chose  as  apostles  and 
founders  of  His  Church  fishermen  and  other 
manual  laborers. 

With  us  all  is  different.  The  American 

7 


98 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


ideal  of  nobility  is  to  live  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible without  work.  Trades  are  despised,  and 
manual  labor  is  considered  to  be  degrading. 
Every  mechanic  longs  to  bring  up  his  boys  in 
a life  different  from  his  own.  He  tries  to  find 
for  them  some  occupation  that  will  not  soil  the 
hands  or  harden  the  muscles.  In  accordance 
too  often  with  parental  advice  the  farm  is  de- 
serted for  the  dry-goods  counter,  and  the  ma- 
chine shop  or  the  factory  for  the  office.  It  is 
not  otherwise  with  the  girls.  The  marks  of 
a fashionable  lady  are  white,  soft  hands,  a few 
so-called  accomplishments,  and  an  utter  ignor- 
ance of  all  practical  matters.  For  a woman 
to  perform  manual  labor  is  to  lose  caste  in  so- 
ciety; and  not  a few  prefer  to  live  dishonestly 
or  even  immorally,  rather  than  to  earn  their 
bread  by  honest  toil.  Everywhere  the  ideal  is 
a life  of  ease,  and  even  those  who  do  work  for 
a living  constantly  look  forward  to  a time 
when  toil  may  be  laid  aside  and  life  “ enjoyed/’ 
Undeniably  true  are  these  words  of  Mrs. 
Campbell:  “ Year  by  year  in  the  story  of  the 
Republic,  labor  has  taken  lower  and  lower 
place.  The  passion  for  getting  on,  latent  in 
every  drop  of  American  blood,  has  made 
money  the  sole  symbol  of  success,  and  freedom 
from  hand-labor  the  synonym  of  happiness.  . . 
It  is  the  story  of  every  civilized  nation  before 
its  fall, — this  exploitation  of  labor,  this  deg- 
radation of  the  worker;  and  the  story  of  hope- 


Aversion  to  Manual  Labor. 


99 


less  decay  and  collapse  must  be  ours  also,  if 
different  ideals  do  not  arise.  . . . There  is  not 
a girl  old  enough  to  work  at  all  who  does 
not  dream  of  a possible  future  in  which  work 
will  cease  and  ease  and  luxury  take  its  place. 
The  boy  content  with  a trade,  the  man  or 
woman  accepting  simple  living  and  its  limita- 
tions contentedly,  is  counted  a fool.  . . . La- 
bor is  curse ; never  the  blessing  that  it  may  bear 
when  accepted  as  man's  chief  good,  and  used 
as  developing,  not  as  destroying  power.” 

In  this  common  aversion  to  manual  labor  we 
may  discover  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the 
rush  to  the  city.  Country  life  means  for  most 
persons  manual  labor.  It  means  farming,  or 
mining,  or  fishing,  or  other  form  of  hand 
work.  The  city  opens  many  avenues  of  gen- 
tility. The  young  man  goes  to  the  city  that  he 
may  escape  from  the  farm  to  the  shop  or  the 
counting-house.  The  young  women,  that  she 
may  exchange  housework  for  the  more  pleas- 
ing duties  of  the  “ sales-lady,”  the  type- writer, 
or  the  cashier.  There  is  a good  living  for  as 
many  as  are  really  needed  in  these  places ; but 
when  they  become  overcrowded  some  must 
starve.  Production  implies  manual  labor  for 
the  majority.  To  despise  manual  labor  is  to 
lessen  the  aggregate  of  production,  and  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  those  who  consume  with- 
out producing. 

Again,  the  aversion  to  manual  labor  gives 


100 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

rise  to  much  of  the  speculation  that  curses  our 
society  and  commerce.  Speculation  does  not 
soil  the  hands,  therefore  it  is  considered  gen- 
teel. That  it  defiles  the  heart  and  sears  the 
conscience  is  to  most  men  of  little  moment, 
since  the  average  man  looketh  on  the  outward 
appearance  only.  The  regular  course  of  evo- 
lution is  through  speculation  to  pauperism  or 
crime. 

Manual  labor  is  often  contrasted  with  brain 
work,  and  the  latter  is  considered  much  more 
noble  and  worthy  of  the  highest  manhood. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  brain  worker  is  a 
nobler  man  than  the  laborer  who  works  like  a 
mere  machine,  without  a thought  or  care  for 
anything  beyond  his  work  and  daily  food. 
But  the  manual  laborer  is  not  of  necessity  a 
stupid,  soulless  animal ; nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  it  proof  positive  of  intelligence  or  brain 
power  to  abstain  from  hand  work.  They  are 
the  truest  brain  workers  who  see  most  clearly 
what  needs  to  be  done  in  the  world  and  then 
do  it  in  the  best  possible  manner.  Without 
manual  labor  life  and  progress  would  be  im- 
possible; everybody  would  die  of  starvation. 
Our  food,  our  clothing,  our  homes,  in  short, 
all  the  comforts  and  necessities  of  life,  are  the 
product  of  manual  labor.  The  greatest  bene- 
factors of  the  race  have  been  in  the  ranks  of 
the  manual  laborers.  What  man  that  has  lived 
by  his  wits  alone  has  done  so  much  for  the 


Aversion  to  Manual  Labor. 


IOI 


world  as  did  Arkwright  or  Stephenson  or 
Elias  Howe?  Franklin  the  philosopher  is  no 
more  worthy  of  respect  than  Franklin  the  prin- 
ter; nor  did  the  great  man  ever  blush  at  the 
memory  of  the  humble  service  of  his  youth, 
even  in  the  midst  of  his  most  important  diplo- 
matic engagements. 

It  is  in  the  union  of  brain  work  and  manual 
labor  that  the  best  results  are  achieved.  Not 
studied  idleness,  but  intelligent  labor  is  the  true 
ideal  of  noble  manhood  and  womanhood.  We 
degrade  toil  when  we  divorce  it  from  intelli- 
gence, and  make  the  worker  a mere  machine. 
When  we  prefer  to  employ  the  ignorant  and 
stupid  because  we  can  get  their  service  cheaper 
or  because  we  can  treat  them  with  less  defer- 
ence, we  are  putting  a premium  on  stupidity, 
and  helping  to  drive  intelligent  and  self-re- 
specting persons  from  the  ranks  of  service. 
We  exalt  labor  when  we  demand  that  it  shall 
be  united  with  intelligence,  and  when  we  treat 
skilled  labor  with  the  respect  that  it  merits. 

One  cause  of  the  popular  aversion  to  manual 
labor  reveals  itself  in  the  inconsistency  of  many 
of  our  most  intelligent  and  well  meaning 
writers  upon  the  subject.  Much  has  been  said 
in  a poetic  fashion  about  the  “ dignity  of 
labor but  when  men  write  in  plain  prose,  they 
most  frequently  demean  labor.  How  often, 
for  example,  do  we  observe  that  writers  who 
insist  most  earnestly  upon  the  true  nobility  of 


102 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 

service  exhort  the  laborer  to  diligence  and 
faithfulness  in  his  work  in  order  that  he  may 
rise  above  work  and  become  a master  instead 
of  a servant.  To  extol  the  dignity  of  labor 
and  in  the  same  breath  to  represent  an  escape 
from  labor  as  the  great  object  of  life  is,  to  say 
the  least,  very  inconsistent.  This  inconsist- 
ency bears  its  natural  fruit  in  the  popular  views 
of  life  and  labor.  The  man  who  sings  the 
praises  of  toil  while  he  avoids  toil  by  every 
possible  means  should  not  expect  to  win  many 
converts  to  his  preaching. 

He  only  shows  a true  appreciation  of  the 
nobility  of  labor  who  endeavors  to  improve  his 
own  condition  and  that  of  his  fellow-men  as 
laborers , and  to  remain  a laborer  as  long  as  he 
lives.  It  should  be  the  aim  of  every  social 
economist  to  exalt  laborers  as  laborers,  not  to 
elevate  them  above  labor.  This  is  the  true 
Christian  ideal,  to  insist  that  all  men  should  be 
laborers,  that  service  is  the  only  measure  of 
manly  worth,  and  that  whoever  ceases  to  serve 
has  taken  a step  downward.  Not  the  servant, 
but  the  idler,  should  be  stigmatized.  Men 
should  by  all  means  strive  to  rise,  but  to  rise 
in  service  and  by  means  of  service.  The  meas- 
ure of  elevation  should  be  gauged  by  the 
quantity  and  quality  of  work  done ; not  by  the 
degree  of  release  from  work.  As  the  effort 
of  the  servant  who  had  faithfully  discharged 
his  duty  in  the  matter  of  five  talents  was  re- 


Aversion  to  Manual  Labor.  103 


warded  by  the  much  greater  duty  of  caring  for 
five  cities,  so  the  true  reward  of  all  service  is 
more  service. 

The  position  of  a master  or  the  responsi- 
bilities of  leadership  should  be  desired  only  as 
they  afford  opportunities  for  a larger  sphere  of 
work  and  an  increased  power  to  give  one's  en- 
ergies for  the  highest  good  of  society.  As 
contrasted  with  this  real  growth  in  working 
power,  all  false  ideas  of  personal  advancement, 
all  dignities  that  are  based  on  external  appear- 
ance, all  empty  titles  by  which  rank  is  made 
superior  to  true  manhood,  should  be  accounted 
of  little  value. 

A good  illustration  of  the  true  spirit  of  re- 
spect for  labor  is  seen  in  the  life  of  Samuel 
Morley  the  English  philanthropist.  He  was  a 
man  of  humble  birth  and  limited  opportunities ; 
but  by  his  industry  and  earnest  labor  he  ac- 
cumulated a large  fortune  and  attained  to  an 
influential  position  in  society  and  the  nation. 
When  he  had  won  success,  he  was  offered  a 
peerage  by  the  government;  but  he  proudly 
refused  the  honor,  declaring  that  he  was  born 
of  the  common  people,  and  he  would  die  with 
the  common  people.  In  refinement,  culture, 
and  influence,  he  was  the  noblest  of  peers. 
For  the  empty  title  and  artificial  social  posi- 
tion he  cared  nothing.  Would  that  the  same 
spirit  might  animate  every  worker  in  our  own 
land. 


104  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

As  a people  loving  manly  independence  and 
strength  of  character,  we  should  strenuously 
resist  the  encroachments  of  dilettanteism  upon 
our  manhood  and  womanhood.  The  aversion 
to  manual  labor  is  an  indication  of  moral  weak- 
ness. It  argues  the  existence  of  false  aims  and 
a perverted  ambition.  The  sturdy  virtue  of 
our  fathers  that  conquered  the  wilderness  and 
made  a highway  for  civilization  through  the 
trackless  forests  is  giving  place  to  a namby- 
pamby  sentiment  which  is  destructive  to  our 
national  character.  The  world  has  suffered 
much  from  aristocracies  of  various  kinds, — 
aristocracies  of  blood,  aristocracies  of  power, 
aristocracies  of  wealth ; but  there  is  an  aris- 
tocracy worse  than  all  these.  May  the  Lord 
deliver  us  from  an  aristocracy  of  idleness . 


The  Tax  on  Barbarism. 


105 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  TAX  ON  BARBARISM. 

To  speak  of  War  as  an  appreciable  cause  of 
poverty  in  America  to-day  may  seem  absurd  to 
many  minds.  Of  course  a war  within  our  own 
borders  is  expensive,  and  drains  the  national 
resources  for  the  time;  but  even  that  has  its 
compensations  in  after  years  of  quickened 
trade, — is  the  common  notion.  Not  a few  of 
our  commercial  men  and  large  speculators  look 
with  undisguised  satisfaction  and  hope  on 
every  war  cloud  that  arises  across  the  sea  or  in 
South  America.  They  fancy  that  such  a com- 
motion will  be  a real  blessing  to  our  commerce 
and  a stimulus  to  our  industries.  Whatever 
may  be  its  effect  upon  the  nations  or  individ- 
uals immediately  engaged,  they  imagine  that 
we  who  supply  munitions  of  war  shall  reap  a 
rich  harvest  of  wealth,  which  shall  for  the 
most  part  find  its  way  into  the  pockets  of  the 
manual  laborers.  For  this  reason  the  spirit 
and  practise  of  war  find  no  slight  encourage- 
ment in  the  popular  opinions  of  the  day.  They 
are  stimulated  by  the  public  press,  and  kept 


106  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

alive  by  the  support  of  government  as  an  es- 
sential element  of  national  life. 

Now  all  such  ideas,  however  widely  they 
may  prevail,  are  wholly  out  of  keeping  with  the 
progress  of  the  age  in  which  we  live.  It  is 
time  they  were  exploded.  War  is  no  more  es- 
sential to  the  maintenance  of  national  honor 
than  is  dueling  to  the  preservation  of  individ- 
ual honor.  In  any  of  its  forms  war  is  a relic 
of  barbarism  which  still  clings  to  the  skirts  of 
our  Nineteenth  Century  enlightenment,  and  is 
very  hard  to  shake  off.  It  is  the  most  ex- 
pensive relic  of  antiquity  that  we  cherish,  and 
is  not  worth  the  price  paid.  Whether  waged 
within  our  own  boundaries  or  in  some  remote 
quarter  of  the  globe,  by  our  citizens  or  by  the 
people  of  other  lands,  it  consumes  the  wealth 
of  mankind  and  impoverishes  the  world.  We 
speak  of  “ compensations but  there  are  no 
compensations,  nothing  but  total,  utter,  irre- 
trievable loss ; wealth  destroyed,  industry  ham- 
pered, society  unhinged.  So  long  as  we  per- 
mit this  remnant  of  barbarism  to  exist  we  must 
pay  a heavy  tax  for  its  maintenance,  and  that 
tax  like  all  others  will  fall  most  heavily  upon 
the  poor. 

Take  a few  figures.  The  late  Civil  War 
cost  this  nation  the  immense  sum  of  $6,189,- 
929,908,  to  which  must  be  added  the  Southern 
debt  of  $2,000,000,000.  This  was  the  imme- 
diate outlay, — over  eight  billion  dollars.  Be- 


The  Tax  on  Barbarism.  107 

sides  this  we  pay  annually  in  pensions  and  in- 
terest over  $150,000,000,  taken  directly  from 
our  national  treasury.  The  figures  startle  us 
even  though  we  can  form  but  a very  indefinite 
idea  of  their  meaning.  They  tell,  however, 
only  a small  part  of  the  story.  No  figures 
can  ever  express  the  weight  of  terrible  burdens 
which  that  war  has  laid  upon  the  shoulders  of 
our  people.  Think  of  the  precious  lives  wasted, 
of  the  thousands  of  strong  toilers  taken  away 
from  their  work  never  to  return.  Think  of 
the  waste  of  labor,  the  energy  put  forth  that 
brought  no  return.  Think  of  the  waste  of  the 
precious  results  of  many  years  of  labor.  These 
can  never  be  calculated,  for  they  are  beyond 
computation. 

Yet  even  these  are  not  all  the  wastes  to  be 
traced  to  this  one  source.  Military  life  very 
often  unfits  men  for  the  ordinary  pursuits  of 
peace,  and  for  the  steady  fulfilment  of  civil 
and  social  duties.  Vice  ever  follows  in  the 
train  of  war.  A generation  has  passed  since 
the  war  swept  over  our  land,  but  its  scars  of 
sin  are  yet  unhealed.  Our  newspapers  are 
filled  with  stories  of  murders,  of  suicides,  of 
lawless  outbreaks,  of  bold  robberies ; our  newer 
settlements  are  the  frequent  scenes  of  violence 
and  crime.  Many  of  these  are  but  the  echoes 
of  the  war.  A vast  army  of  tramps  wander 
from  village  to  village  in  every  state,  lazy  and 
lawless.  Great  accessions  have  been  made  to 


io8 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


the  ranks  of  pauperism.  For  many  of  these 
evils  we  find  one  common  cause,  the  war.. 
Slowly  the  traces  of  war  are  disappearing,  but 
it  will  be  many  years  before  we  shall  be  wholly 
freed  from  them.  Whoever  imagines  that 
what  was  at  the  time  so  fearful  a calamity  has 
already  been  transformed  into  a blessing  is 
greatly  mistaken.  With  passing  years  the 
burdens  which  it  brought  will  grow  lighter, 
but  they  will  never  be  changed  into  wings. 

If  we  could  trace  the  history  of  every  case 
of  poverty  that  exists  in  our  land  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  very  often  we  should  be  led  directly 
to  the  Civil  War.  We  should  learn  how  the 
father  or  the  brother,  the  strong  bread-winner 
of  the  family,  went  away  at  his  country’s  call 
to  see  his  home  no  more,  or  to  return  sick  or 
maimed,  a constant  burden  upon  the  weaker 
ones.  We  should  be  told  of  business  ham- 
pered, and  of  failure  brought  on  by  the  un- 
natural condition  of  the  country.  We  should 
hear  of  suffering  caused  by  financial  panics,  the 
direct  outgrowth  of  the  war.  The  story  is  a 
common  one,  and  familiar  to  the  greater  por- 
tion of  the  American  people.  Scarcely  a 
hamlet  in  our  land  in  which  we  cannot  find  at 
least  one  home  where  poverty  reigns  as  a direct 
result  of  the  war.  Of  course  the  pension  sys- 
tem has  afforded  relief  in  very  many  cases; 
but  not  a few  needy  and  deserving  ones  have 


The  Tax  on  Barbarism.  109 

waited  long  and  patiently  for  the  relief  that 
never  came. 

Armless  sleeves,  wooden  legs,  and  broken 
constitutions  are,  however,  among  the  least 
disastrous  result  of  the  war.  Other  conse- 
quences have  followed,  which,  from  an  eco- 
nomic point  of  view,  are  immeasurably  more 
harmful.  Says  Mr.  Adams  in  his  Chapters 
of  Erie  “ The  Civil  War  in  America,  with 
its  enormous  issues  of  depreciating  currency, 
and  its  reckless  waste  of  money  and  credit  by 
the  government,  created  a speculative  mania 
such  as  the  United  States,  with  all  its  expe- 
rience in  this  respect,  had  never  before  known. 
Not  only  in  Broad  Street,  the  center  of  New 
York  speculation,  but  far  and  wide  through- 
out the  Northern  States,  almost  every  man 
who  had  money  at  all  employed  a part  of  his 
capital  in  the  purchase  of  stocks  or  of  gold, 
of  copper,  of  petroleum,  or  of  domestic  pro- 
duce, in  the  hope  of  a rise  in  prices,  or  staked 
money  in  the  expectation  of  a fall.  To  use 
the  jargon  of  the  street,  every  farmer  and 
every  shop-keeper  in  the  country  seemed  to  be 
engaged  in  ‘ carrying  ’ some  favorite  security 
on  a ‘ margin/  ” The  outcome  of  this  arti- 
ficial trade  and  its  ruinous  effects  upon  all 
legitimate  industry  and  commerce  we  need  not 
discuss  here.  At  present  it  will  suffice  to  call 
attention  to  the  fact  of  the  relation  between 


no  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

war  and  speculation,  a direct  relation  of  cause 
and  effect. 

Do  you  ask : Whence  come  the  poor  of 
America?  We  answer  unhesitatingly:  Many 
of  them  are  the  offspring  of  our  war.  You 
say : The  war  was  unavoidable.  It  was 

forced  upon  the  nation.  True,  but  we  are  not 
now  dealing  with  that  question.  We  are  con- 
cerned only  with  its  economic  results.  What- 
ever its  causes  and  circumstances,  the  war  was 
a fearful  waste  economically,  and  this  fact 
should  never  be  forgotten.  Our  war  with 
Spain  and  the  fighting  in  the  Philippines  are 
trifles  compared  with  the  Civil  War,  and  it  is 
too  early  yet  to  compute  the  cost,  for  we  know 
not  how  far  away  the  end  may  be.  Still  we 
know  that  millions  have  already  been  expended, 
priceless  lives  sacrificed,  and  the  steady  in- 
dustry of  the  nation  disturbed.  We  know  too 
that  we  are  paying  for  this  war  not  only  in  the 
direct  channels  of  special  revenue,  but  also  in 
indirect  ways  by  the  increased  cost  of  the 
necessaries  of  life.  We  do  well  to  study 
the  enormous  cost  of  war  in  the  light  of 
our  national  experience.  The  lesson  should 
be  stamped  upon  the  minds  of  every  statesman 
in  our  halls  of  legislation;  it  should  be  im- 
printed upon  the  hearts  of  our  citizens;  it 
should  be  taught  to  the  rising  generation  so 
plainly  that  a repetition  of  the  war  would  be 
forever  impossible.  The  facts  are  stupendous. 


The  Tax  on  Barbarism.  hi 

And  if  a single  war  could  cause  so  heavy  a 
drain  upon  national  and  individual  wealth, 
what  must  be  the  sum  total  of  the  impoverish- 
ment arising  from  the  many  wars  constantly 
waged  in  different  parts  of  the  world?  Yet 
men  are  slow  to  learn  the  blessedness  of  peace. 

The  tax  on  barbarism , as  the  cost  of  war  may 
fitly  be  called,  is  far  greater  than  most  of  us 
imagine.  We  call  this  an  age  of  peace  and  of 
enlightenment;  but  we  are  paying  enormous 
sums  every  year  for  this  destructive  service. 

The  United  States  has  a standing  army  that 
excites  the  contempt  of  the  less  enlightened 
nations,  and  receives  much  severe  criticism 
from  many  of  our  own  short-sighted  states- 
men and  economists.  Small  as  it  is,  however, 
our  annual  expenditure  for  its  support  is  about 
fifty-four  millions  of  dollars.  This  directly, 
and  many  millions  more  that  can  never  be 
gathered  in  statistical  tables. 

Our  own  outlay  in  this  direction  is  a mere 
bagatelle  when  compared  with  that  of  other  na- 
tions. Look  across  the  Atlantic  and  see  Eu- 
rope spending  $3,867,500,000  every  year  on 
her  standing  armies  and  navies.  See  about 
four  millions  of  men  held  in  constant  idleness, 
or  engaged  in  unproductive,  nay  worse,  in  de- 
structive labor.  Besides  these  are  more  than 
sixteen  million  men  trained  for  war,  and  sub- 
ject to  call  at  a moment's  notice.  These  are 
the  best  men  of  Europe;  young  men,  strong 


1 1 2 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


men,  energetic,  ambitious  men,  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  England,  Germany,  France,  Spain, 
and  the  other  countries.  If  they  could  be  re- 
leased from  demoralizing  army  service  they 
would  perform  useful  labor  to  the  value  of 
nearly  a billion  dollars  annually.  But  we  have 
told  less  than  half  the  truth  when  we  say  that 
four  millions  of  men  are  required  for  the  peace 
footing  of  Europe’s  standing  army.  For  in 
addition  to  those  who  do  nothing  but  drill  and 
prepare  for  purposes  of  destruction,  is  another 
army  of  men  engaged  in  supplying  them  with 
materials  for  their  service.  The  manufac- 
ture of  guns,  torpedoes,  ammunition,  food  and 
clothing  for  the  army,  employs  a great  many 
laborers.  Think  of  the  number  of  men  en- 
gaged in  the  construction  of  a modern  iron- 
clad. You  must  not  stop  with  the  work  done 
in  the  navy  yard;  but  you  must  go  back  to 
every  ton  of  iron  and  coal  used,  to  the  men  en- 
gaged in  extracting  the  ore  from  the  earth  and 
in  making  the  raw  iron  into  its  various  forms, 
to  the  men  engaged  in  making  the  elaborate 
machinery  connected  with  it,  and  so  on  ad  in- 
finitum. Then  consider  that  the  labor  of  this 
countless  army  is  absolutely  thrown  away ; that 
they  produce  only  for  destruction  and  waste. 
Thus  in  time  of  peace  Europe  is  paying  several 
billions  of  dollars  a year  for  the  maintenance 
of  armies  and  navies.  The  nations  are  ex- 
pending in  preparations  for  war  more  than 


The  Tax  on  Barbarism.  113 

enough  to  feed  all  the  poor  of  the  United 
States, — yes,  of  the  whole  world.  Truly  has 
it  been  said : “ If  we  could  do  away  with  all 

war,  and  with  all  standing  armies  for  half  a 
century,  the  world  would  become  so  comfort- 
able and  so  respectable  that  it  would  not  know 
itself.” 

But  the  gates  of  the  Temple  of  Janus  are 
seldom  shut  in  the  Old  World.  The  European 
powers  are  engaged  in  almost  constant  war- 
fare. Look  over  the  history  of  the  past  few 
years.  In  1872  there  was  the  Franco-Prus- 
sian  war,  which  cost  France  $1,500,000,000  in 
money  paid  directly  as  an  indemnity  to  her 
conqueror,  not  to  speak  of  cities  and  homes 
devastated  and  lands  laid  waste.  There  fol- 
lowed in  rapid  succession  the  Ashantee  war, 
the  Russo-Turkish  war,  the  Transvaal  and 
Zulu  wars,  the  Afghan  war,  the  Egyptian  and 
Soudan  wars,  the  French  Tonquin  war,  the 
Mahdi  war,  and  the  Burmese  war.  And  even 
now  a second  war  is  in  progress  iu  the  Trans- 
vaal, and  a war  cloud  hangs  dark  and  threat- 
ening over  China.  Can  we  wonder  that 
the  war  debts  of  Europe  aggregate  $24,- 
113,  °57>  650,  and  that  nearly  one  billion 
dollars  are  annually  paid  out  for  interest  on 
these  debts?  Our  statesmen  point  to  the  pov- 
erty of  European  peasants  and  lay  it  at  the 
door  of  free  trade  or  protection , as  the  case 
may  be.  Our  social  reformers  declare  it  to 
8 


1 14  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

be  the  result  of  a false  system  of  land  tenure 
or  what  not.  But  Mr.  Evarts  expresses  the 
truth  of  the  matter  in  a single  sentence  when 
he  says : “ The  difference  between  the  Ger- 

man and  American  farmer  is  not  so  much  in 
hard  work  or  high  prices  as  in  the  fact  that 
every  German  zvorkingman  carries  a soldier 
on  his  back A 

The  dominant  feeling  in  America  which 
opposes  a large  standing  army  is  by  all  means 
to  be  commended.  Such  armies  are  the  most 
terrible  means  of  oppression  and  impoverish- 
ment the  world  has  ever  seen.  Says  Dr.  Beh- 
rends : “ A standing  army  is  the  creation  of 
fear,  and  the  instrument  of  oppression.  It  is 
a confession  of  distrust  between  neighbors ; and 
a man  who  holds  a dagger  in  one  hand  and 
a spade  in  the  other,  cannot  do  even  half  a 
day’s  work  well.  The  camps  must  give  place 
to  factories  and  farms;  the  swords  must  be 
beaten  into  plowshares,  and  the  spears  into 
pruning  hooks,  and  the  sweet  spirit  of  con- 
fiding childhood  pervade  the  nations,  before 
the  economic  millennium  can  come.” 

The  nations  of  the  world  are  daily  becoming 
more  closely  knit  together  in  their  interests. 
International  contacts  are  many  times  more 
numerous  than  they  were  one  hundred  years 
ago.  Swiftness  of  modern  intercommunica- 
tion has  made  distance  of  little  account,  and 
the  facilities  and  necessities  of  commerce 


The  Taxon  Barbarism.  115 

make  the  most  remote  nations  neighbors.  As 
the  decades  and  centuries  pass  the  brotherhood 
of  humanity  reveals  itself  with  ever  increasing 
significance.  Neutrals  suffer  more  in  modern 
than  in  ancient  wars.  A war  on  one  side  of 
the  globe  carries  its  depressing  influence  to  the 
opposite  side.  Every  nation  feels  the  pain 
when  one  is  wounded.  If  in  any  quarter 
there  comes  a temporary  quickening  of  trade 
or  industry,  it  is  like  the  unnatural  strength 
which  a sick  man  derives  from  alcoholic  or 
other  stimulants,  only  a momentary  advan- 
tage to  be  paid  for  with  interest  in  the  future. 
Some  rich  speculators  in  America  may  be  made 
richer  through  the  necessities  of  war  in  some 
foreign  land ; but  the  poor  of  America  are  only 
made  poorer  by  such  an  occurrence. 

It  does  not  require  any  very  great  keenness 
of  vision  or  skill  in  reasoning  to  see  how  this 
must  be  the  case.  A war,  wherever  it  occurs, 
implies  the  absolute  destruction  of  a vast 
amount  of  wealth.  The  valuable  products 
employed  in  carrying  on  the  war  are  not  con- 
sumed but  destroyed.  They  are  placed  beyond 
the  reach  of  man  for  future  consumption.  The 
world  is  therefore  impoverished  to  the  extent 
of  the  aggregate  cost  of  the  war,  reckoning  all 
its  many  elements,  the  money  directly  ex- 
pended, the  loss  of  property  and  life,  the  loss 
by  industries  blocked  and  commerce  injured 
and  society  demoralized,  the  labor  of  all  en- 


n6 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


gaged  in  manufacturing  or  producing  the  mu- 
nitions of  war,  and  the  army  of  men  prevented 
from  engaging  in  productive  labor.  Not 
Europe  alone,  but  the  whole  world  is  several 
billions  of  dollars  poorer  every  year  because 
of  the  immense  standing  armies  maintained 
“ to  keep  the  peace.”  Never  was  a greater 
fallacy  than  the  notion  that  American  working- 
men are  better  off  because  of  the  idleness  of 
so  many  men  in  Europe.  The  nations  are 
one  in  this  matter.  This  enormous  expendi- 
ture is  draining  the  treasury  of  the  world,  and 
America  suffers  with  Europe.  Mere  trade  or 
the  circulation  of  money  does  not  constitute 
wealth.  Wealth  is  measured  by  the  abundance 
of  useful  production.  The  greater  the  pro- 
duction of  those  things  that  satisfy  human 
need,  the  greater  the  wealth  of  the  world.  If, 
therefore,  we  could  increase  the  producing 
force  of  the  world  by  several  millions  of  in- 
telligent, able-bodied  men  while  at  the  same 
time  we  saved  as  many  billions  of  dollars 
worth  of  waste  or  useless  expenditure,  would 
not  all  men  the  world  over  be  enriched  by  the 
process?  The  answer  is  self-evident. 

We  repeat,  then,  war  is  a relic  of  barbarism. 
It  is  an  unmitigated  evil.  It  causes  a large 
draught  upon  the  prosperity,  not  of  one  or  two 
nations  alone,  but  of  all  nations.  It  destroys 
the  vital  resources  of  the  world.  It  wastes 
material  wealth.  It  paralyzes  all  legitimate 


The  Tax  on  Barbarism.  117 

industry  and  blocks  the  wheels  of  economic 
progress.  Every  honest  laborer,  therefore, 
and  every  friend  of  industry  ought  to  be  a 
peace  man . We  should  rejoice  in  every  move- 
ment that  is  made  in  the  interests  of  peace. 
We  should  honor  that  statesmanship  that 
seeks  to  maintain  peaceful  relations  with  all 
the  world.  We  should  deprecate  every  utter- 
ance that  tends  to  excite  a warlike  spirit,  as 
an  echo  of  the  dark  ages,  and  every  custom 
that  fosters  a love  for  war  should  be  done 
away. 

The  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  wisely  por- 
trayed the  Golden  Age  as  an  age  of  universal 
peace ; for  only  in  peace  can  be  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  general  and  lasting  prosperity. 
Modern  reformers  expatiate  upon  the  evils  of 
existing  social  and  political  systems.  They 
advocate  changes  in  land  tenure  and  preach  the 
“single  tax  ” doctrine;  or  they  discuss  the 
relative  influence  of  free  trade  and  protection 
upon  the  poorer  classes  of  the  people.  Of 
course  these  different  systems  all  have  a bear- 
ing upon  the  fact  and  degree  of  existing  pov- 
erty. Doubtless  changes  may  be  effected 
which  shall  in  some  slight  measure  tend  to 
equalize  the  distribution  of  wealth.  But  all 
of  them  put  together  would  not  relieve  the 
burdens  of  our  working  classes  to  such  an  ex- 
tent as  would  the  cessation  of  war  and  the 
disbanding  of  standing  armies.  Cobden 


n8 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


Clubs  may  have  a work  to  do,  and  Anti-Pov- 
erty Societies  may  accomplish  some  useful  end ; 
but  the  Peace  Societies  of  our  own  and  other 
nations  deserve  a high  place  among  the  friends 
of  the  poor  and  the  workingman.  As  their 
principles  prevail  and  their  work  advances  a 
great  burden  will  be  lifted  from  the  world 
which  will  bring  direct  relief  to  every  strug- 
gling laborer  in  all  lands. 

It  is  not  uncommon  for  political  dema- 
gogues and  sensational  newspaper  paragraph- 
ers  to  criticize  our  national  armament. 

Our  coast  defenses  have  been  declared  in- 
adequate. Our  standing  army  has  been  ridi- 
culed. Our  navy  has  been  sneered  at.  Many 
of  our  citizens  long  to  see  in  this  country  a 
military  establishment  like  that  of  Great  Brit- 
ain and  the  other  European  powers;  and  they 
murmur  at  the  national  policy  that  keeps  army 
and  navy  and  defenses  at  the  minimum.  Yet 
this  is  the  true  policy  for  a progressive  people. 
It  accords  with  the  principles  of  soundest 
economy  and  most  enlightened  statesmanship. 
As  a people  we  want  neither  war  nor  prepa- 
rations for  war;  but  peace  only,  universal 
peace.  Already  we  suffer  enough  from  the 
effects  of  war.  Already  our  citizens  are  suffi- 
ciently impoverished  by  its  excessive  burdens. 
Why  not  make  an  end  of  war?  Why  not 
treat  with  other  nations  as  though  war  were 
out  of  the  question?  The  time  is  ripe  for 


The  Tax  on  Barbarism.  119 

the  announcement  of  the  most  unqualified 
peace  principles.  As  a people  we  alone  are 
fitted  to  take  the  lead  in  this  matter.  The 
spirit  of  the  age  demands  that  it  be  done.  The 
true  interests  of  our  laboring  people  demand  it. 
The  onward  movement  of  social  reform  de- 
mands it. 


120 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  ECONOMICS  OF  THE  STRIKE. 

The  man  who  burned  his  barn  to  destroy 
the  rats  that  ate  his  corn  has  been  much 
laughed  at  for  his  folly.  Yet  he  has  many 
imitators  even  among  those  who  laugh  loudest. 
For  this  barn-burning  is  no  imaginary  fable; 
it  is  an  every-day  fact  which  is  of  late  becom- 
ing only  too  common.  Again  and  again  we 
see  this  suicidal  method  of  cure  applied  to  the 
ills  of  society,  and  it  is  growing  in  favor  with 
those  whom  it  injures  most.  Men  destroy  the 
sources  of  their  own  livelihood  and  doom  them- 
selves to  poverty  or  starvation  in  the  vain  at- 
tempt to  injure  others  who  are  filching  a few 
handfuls  from  the  store.  Hungry  mobs,  in- 
spired by  envy  and  revenge,  set  fire  to  car- 
loads of  corn  and  other  food  and  in  a few 
hours  destroy  that  which  would  satisfy  their 
hunger  for  many  days.  Restless  workers  de- 
mand higher  wages,  and  if  their  demands  are 
not  promptly  met,  by  wanton  acts  they  empty 
the  treasuries  from  which  their  wages  come 
as  though  wages  could  be  increased  by  such 
means.  Idlers  ask  for  work,  and  then,  as  a 


The  Economics  of  the  Strike.  12 1 


means  of  securing  it,  block  the  very  industries 
that  would  furnish  them  remunerative  em- 
ployment. And  so  in  many  ways  wealth  is  de- 
stroyed or  production  is  hindered  in  the  en- 
deavor to  punish  or  to  cripple  those  who  are 
supposed  to  take  more  than  their  share.  The 
result  is  always  the  same.  The  loss  sustained 
in  curing  the  evil  is  vastly  greater  than  the  evil 
itself.  The  blow  aimed  at  a real  or  supposed 
thief  rebounds  with  double  force  upon  the 
striker.  The  rats  scamper  off  in  safety  to  new 
stores  of  corn,  while  he  who  kindled  the  flames 
mourns  the  loss  of  both  store-house  and  corn,- 
and  perhaps  dies  of  starvation. 

In  the  recent  developments  of  social  agita- 
tion the  strike  has  become  a very  popular 
means  of  adjusting  difficulties.  Workmen  be- 
come dissatisfied  with  their  wages  or  with  the 
hours  of  labor  or  they  feel  that  in  some  way 
or  other  the  treatment  they  receive  at  the  hands 
of  their  employers  is  unjust,  and  immediately 
they  strike.  Or  employers  have  some  griev- 
ance against  their  workmen,  and  a lockout  en- 
sues. In  their  essential  nature  the  strike  and 
the  lockout  are  identical,  the  lockout  being 
only  a strike  on  the  part  of  employers.  In 
either  of  its  forms  a strike  implies  the  stop- 
page of  valuable  production,  and  a consequent 
loss  of  material  wealth.  Although  there  may 
be  no  destructive  violence,  yet  he  who  hinders 
a day’s  productive  labor,  impoverishes  the 


122  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

community  just  as  much  as  he  who  destroys 
the  wealth  that  has  already  been  produced  in 
a day.  Whoever  strikes  for  higher  wages,  by 
his  own  act  paralyzes  the  hand  that  would  pay 
the  wages. 

Within  the  past  five  or  ten  years  strikes  have 
become  almost  an  every-day  occurrence  in  our 
land.  We  can  scarcely  take  up  a daily  news- 
paper without  seeing  an  account  of  some  such 
disturbance  in  the  industrial  world.  In  fact 
the  strike  is  considered  by  many  as  a neces- 
sary method  of  settling  the  differences  between 
employers  and  workmen.  As  the  old-fash- 
ioned doctors  were  accustomed  to  bleed  every 
patient,  thus  reducing  his  already  exhausted 
vital  powers,  as  the  first  step  towards  his  resto- 
ration; so  the  modern  social  agitator  would  cure 
the  ills  of  poverty  by  first  impoverishing  so- 
ciety. Strikes  are  a great  waste  of  material 
wealth,  to  say  nothing  of  their  moral  results. 
As  they  are  too  often  conducted,  they  imply 
the  absolute  destruction  of  wealth;  and  when 
conducted  in  the  best  possible  manner  they  ne- 
cessitate a great  loss  to  the  community.  It 
usually  happens  that  the  loss  falls  most  heavily 
in  the  end  upon  those  who  take  part  in  the 
strike. 

Perhaps  we  should  not  say  that  strikes  are 
always  indefensible  or  that  they  are  wholly 
unnecessary.  They  are,  like  war,  an  extreme 
measure,  and  may  be  forced  upon  those  who 


The  Economics  of  the  Strike.  123  ‘ 

recognize  their  wastefulness.  Those  who  are 
most  directly  concerned  in  a strike  may  not 
be  really  responsible  for  its  occurrence  or  for 
its  results,  and  we  ought  not  too  hastily  to 
lay  the  blame  on  their  shoulders ; but  whenever 
a strike  is  carried  beyond  the  most  peaceful 
measures,  whatever  its  provocation,  overt  vio- 
lence is  always  chargeable  to  the  immediate 
perpetrators.  In  the  case  of  a peaceful  and 
lawfully  conducted  strike,  if  such  there  be,  we 
may  be  obliged  to  unravel  some  intricate 
meshes  of  cause  before  we  can  say  with  any  de- 
gree of  justice  where  the  blame  rests.  But 
whoever  is  responsible  for  them,  the  fact  re- 
mains beyond  the  possibility  of  dispute  that 
strikes  are  a great  waste;  and  any  adjustment 
of  the  relations  of  labor  and  capital  which 
shall  put  an  end  to  the  necessity  or  possibility 
of  strikes  will  be  an  immense  boon  to  our  na- 
tion. It  will  save  millions  of  dollars  annually, 
and  will  be  an  important  factor  in  the  relief 
of  poverty. 

In  the  U.  S.  Census  report  for  1880  we  find 
the  following  suggestive  figures  regarding  the 
strikes  and  lockouts  of  the  previous  year.  The 
total  amount  of  wages  lost  during  the  year  was 
$3,711,097.  The  aggregate  number  of  days 
lost  by  idleness  was  1,989,872.  The  number 
of  men  idle  was  64,779.  The  proportion  of 
strikes  to  lockouts  was — strikes  88  per  cent., 
lockouts  12  per  cent. 


124 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


It  will  be  observed  that  no  account  is  made 
of  any  losses  excepting  those  necessarily  in- 
volved in  every  strike,  viz. : the  loss  of  wages 
and  of  productive  labor.  Many  people  forget 
this  latter  item,  and  think  only  of  the  wages, 
but  the  loss  of  labor  is  always  greater  than  the 
amount  of  wages,  since  a day’s  work  must  not 
only  equal  in  value  the  wages  paid,  but  must 
bring  at  least  a slight  profit  besides.  Hence 
the  direct  loss  of  wealth  caused  by  the  strikes 
of  1879  was  something  over  seven  millions  of 
dollars,  to  which  doubtless  there  should  be 
added  a large  sum  for  property  destroyed  and 
productive  labor  indirectly  hampered.  And 
when  we  have  gathered  them  all  the  figures  are 
much  smaller  than  for  any  subsequent  year. 

Official  reports  estimate  the  loss  of  wages  in 
the  St.  Louis  railroad  strike  of  1886  to  have 
been  one  million  dollars.  And  that  was  but  one 
of  many  strikes  during  the  same  year,  though 
it  was  probably  greater  than  any  of  the  others. 
Here,  too,  we  must  reckon  the  loss  in  produc- 
tive labor,  which  would  add  more  than  an- 
other million,  making  more  than  two  million 
dollars  direct  loss  in  a single  strike. 

Still  greater  were  the  losses  in  the  great  rail- 
way strike  of  1877.  To  say  that  one  hundred 
thousand  men  were  idle  for  many  days,  and  to 
compute  the  amount  of  wages  lost,  would  but 
feebly  indicate  the  cost  of  that  movement. 
According  to  the  census  report,  and  also  the 


The  Economics  of  the  Strike.  125 


report  of  the  Senate  committee,  the  direct  loss 
of  railway  property  destroyed  by  fire  and  other- 
wise in  the  city  of  Pittsburg  alone  is  estimated 
at  from  eight  to  ten  million  dollars.  Profes- 
sor Ely  in  his  book,  The  Labor  Movement  in 
America , states  that  the  total  loss  of  property 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  was  not  less 
than  one  hundred  million  dollars.  Add  to  this 
the  fact  that  the  entire  railway  system  of  the 
United  States  was  disturbed,  and  trade  inter- 
rupted, and  the  loss  will  appear  very  much 
greater.  We  are  as  a nation  at  the  present 
time  dependent  on  the  railways  as  never  before. 
The  railroad  is  a necessity  to  make  possible  our 
enormous  exchanges  of  products.  The  farms 
of  the  West  are  useless  without  easy  access  to 
the  markets  of  the  East;  and  the  factories  of 
the  East  must  close  their  doors  if  they  are  cut 
off  from  communication  with  the  rest  of  the 
country.  If  even  for  a few  days  our  chief 
lines  of  railway  should  stop  their  traffic,  there 
would  be  intense  suffering  in  many  parts  of 
the  country.  Any  extended  railroad  blockade 
would  be  felt  to  the  remotest  village  on  the 
continent.  Not  tradesmen  only,  but  farmers 
and  laborers  of  every  kind  would  feel  the  effect 
of  the  depression.  Every  city  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Pacific  felt  the  shock  of  that  great 
strike;  and  we  can  imagine,  though  we  cannot 
compute,  the  loss  of  trade  arising  from  want 
of  communication,  and  the  loss  of  perishable 


126 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


freight  which  must  be  added  to  all  figures  that 
are  given  regarding  the  strike.  There  was  in 
that  strike  a wanton  destruction  of  property 
surpassing  anything  that  has  occurred  in  recent 
strikes.  Thousands  of  bushels  of  corn  and 
other  provisions  were  burned  with  the  railroad 
property  by  men  who  were  clamoring  for  food. 
The  original  purpose  of  the  strike  seems  to 
have  been  lost  sight  of  by  many  in  the  insane 
desire  for  destruction  and  revenge. 

The  engineers’  strike  on  the  Chicago,  Bur- 
lington & Quincy  railroad  in  March,  1888,  is 
still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  all.  It  was  remark- 
able chiefly  for  the  persistence  with  which  the 
men  held  together,  and  the  attempts  that  were 
made  to  force  the  other  railroads  of  the  country 
into  a participation  in  the  strike.  The  fol- 
lowing estimates  have  been  published  regard- 
ing the  cost  of  the  strike : 


Loss  of  wages  on  the  C.  B.  & Q.  road #306,135 

Pay-roll  of  the  Brotherhood 159,450 

Grievance  committee’s  loss  of  wages 30,870 

“ “ expense  account 22,050 

Non-union  men  subsidized 20,000 

Expense  of  headquarters 3,375 

Santa  Fe,  and  other  strikes 24,700 

Cost  of  switchmen’s  strike 25.000 

Miscellaneous  loss  to  workmen 10,000 

Loss  to  Road  in  traffic  receipts 1,800,000 

Cost  of  engaging  new  men 50,000 

Special  police  protection 180,000 

Damage  to  property 50,000 

Miscellaneous 20,000 


Total  cost  of  strike $2,701,580 


The  Economics  of  the  Strike.  127 


Still  more  recent  is  the  Homestead  strike, 
[which  took  place  in  the  Carnegie  mills  in  June, 
1892,  and  which  was  an  utter  failure.  Con- 
servative estimates  reckon  the  cost  of  that  strike 
at  $10,000,000.  Of  this  sum  about  $2,500,- 
000  were  in  wages  to  the  men.  The  firm's 
loss  was  nearly  three  times  as  much.  The 
direct  cost  of  troops  was  about  $500,000.  The 
secondary  losses  must  also  have  been  very 
great. 

Not  long  ago  a committee  appointed  by  the 
U.  S.  Senate  to  investigate  the  relations  be- 
tween capital  and  labor,  included  in  their  re- 
port the  following  figures  regarding  a series 
of  strikes  in  different  parts  of  Europe.  They 
are  most  carefully  authenticated. 

In  the  year  1871,  9,000  engineers  struck, 
losing  20  weeks  of  time,  and  $900,000  in 
wages.  15,000  striking  bolt  makers  were  idle 
40  weeks  and  lost  in  wages  $300,000.  Col- 
liers struck  to  the  number  of  18,000,  were  idle 
12  weeks,  and  lost  in  wages  the  sum  of  $1,- 
980,000.  In  the  year  1872,  10,000  builders 
struck  and  were  idle  12  weeks,  losing  $600,000. 
In  1873,  70,000  colliers  were  idle  on  a strike 
1 1 weeks,  and  lost  $3,850,000  in  wages.  In 
1877,  masons  numbering  17,000  were  idle  33 
weeks  at  a loss  of  $2,800,000.  And  in  1878, 
30,000  cotton  mill  hands  stayed  out  on 
a strike  9 weeks  at  a loss  in  wages  of  $1,150,- 
000. 


128 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


In  all  these  cases  we  have  the  minimum 
figures,  representing  only  the  three  necessary 
elements  of  loss  which  enter  into  every  strike, 
namely,  the  loss  of  wages,  the  wasted  time, 
and  the  number  of  men  withdrawn  from  pro- 
ductive labor.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  if  this 
were  the  whole  story,  a strike  is  an  expensive 
luxury,  a great  drain  upon  the  wealth  of  the 
community.  But  the  figures  already  given  re- 
garding the  railroad  strikes  in  our  own  land 
show  that  these  three  elements  constitute  very 
much  less  than  the  total  amount  of  loss.  There 
are  other  chapters  to  the  story.  Other  ele- 
ments enter  in  which  greatly  increase  the  cost 
of  the  strike  to  the  community.  There  is  the 
destruction  of  property,  the  stoppage  of  com- 
merce, the  crippling  of  other  related  indus- 
tries, and  the  unsettling  of  public  confidence 
which  is  so  essential  to  commercial  prosperity 
and  social  strength. 

The  question  which  presents  itself  to  every 
workingman  of  to-day  is,  Do  strikes  pay?  In 
view  of  the  statistics  already  given,  but  one  an- 
swer is  possible.  Strikes  do  not  pay.  They 
never  have  paid ; and  they  never  can  pay.  Can 
any  sane  man  imagine  that  the  poor  people 
or  the  laborers  of  the  land  were  made  any 
richer  by  the  absolute  destruction  of  one  hun- 
dred million  dollars  of  the  national  wealth  in 
1877?  Who  is  so  foolish  as  to  suppose  that 
the  C.  B.  & Q.  railroad  was  in  a position  to 


The  Economics  of  the  Strike.  129 

pay  better  wages  to  its  engineers  after  a loss 
of  nearly  three  millions  of  dollars?  Or  the 
Carnegie  Company  after  a much  greater  loss? 
Any  man  who  will  give  the  subject  a moment’s 
thought  can  understand  that  every  dollar  of 
wealth  destroyed,  every  day  of  idleness,  every 
hour  of  productive  labor  hindered,  makes  the 
community  poorer,  and  drains  the  sources  of 
supply  from  which  poor  and  rich  alike  draw 
their  sustenance. 

But  some  will  say  that  while  it  is  true  that 
the  community  as  a whole  is  made  poor,  the 
workmen  do  gain  something  by  a successful 
strike.  They  compel  a more  equitable  division 
of  the  products  of  labor,  and  so  even  though 
the  remedy  be  severe,  its  final  effects  justify 
the  means  used.  Many  who  would  not  for  a 
moment  countenance  lawlessness  or  the  de- 
struction of  property,  look  upon  the  strike 
when  free  from  these  elements  as  a reasonable 
method  of  securing  justice  in  the  relations 
of  employer  and  employee.  The  following 
figures  have  been  presented  as  proving  the  gain 
to  workmen  accruing  from  a successful  strike. 
They  are  gathered  from  the  statistics  of  a 
series  of  successful  strikes  in  various  parts  of 
Great  Britain  which  occurred  between  the 
years  1873  and  1878. 

In  the  year  1873,  frorn  a total  of  8,900  work- 
men in  various  trades  and  communities,  1,000 
struck  for  higher  wages.  The  loss  in  wages 
9 


130  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

averaged  $9.00  a week  for  4 weeks,  making  an 
aggregate  loss  of  $36,000.  The  strike  being 
successful,  the  workmen  received  $3.75  each 
per  week  for  the  4 weeks  of  the  strike,  and 
secured  an  advance  in  wages  for  the  entire 
number  (8,900),  averaging  62  1-2  cents  each 
per  week,  or  an  aggregate  of  $289,250  for  a 
year.  We  have  then  as  a result  of  these 
strikes  a net  gain  to  the  workingmen  of  $268,- 
250  in  a year. 

In  1874,  from  a total  of  10,700  men,  1,100 
struck.  Loss  in  wages  at  $9.00  per  week  for 
4 weeks,  $39,600.  Strike  pay  at  $3.75  per 
week,  $16,500.  Advance  in  wages  at  62  1-2 
cents  each  per  week,  $347,750  for  a year. 
Balance  in  favor  of  the  workmen,  $324,650. 

In  1875,  from  a total  of  9,400  men,  1,050 
struck.  Loss  in  wages  at  $9.00  per  week  for 
4 weeks,  $37,800.  Strike  pay  at  $3.75  per 
week,  $15,750.  Advance  in  wages  at  62  1-2 
cents  each  per  week,  $305,500  for  a year. 
Balance  in  favor  of  the  workmen,  $283,450. 

In  1876,  from  a total  of  10,500  men,  1,075 
struck.  Loss  in  wages,  at  $9  each  per  week, 
4 weeks,  $38,700.  Strike  pay  at  $3.75  each 
per  week,  $16,125.  Advance  in  wages  at 
66  2-3  cents  each  per  week,  $364,035  for  a 
year.  Balance  in  favor  of  the  workmen,  $326,- 
335- 

In  1877,  from  a total  of  6,500  men,  900 
struck.  Loss  in  wages  at  $9  each  per  week  4 


The  Economics  of  the  Strike.  13 1 

weeks,  $32,400.  Strike  pay  at  $3.75  each  per 
week,  $13,500.  Advance  in  wages  at  58  1-3 
cents  each  per  week,  $197,145  for  a year. 
Balance  in  favor  of  the  workmen,  $178,245. 

In  1878,  from  a total  of  1,300  men,  500 
struck.  Loss  in  wages  at  $9  each  per  week  4 
weeks,  $18,000.  Strike  pay  at  $3.75  per  week, 
$7,500.  Advance  in  wages  at  56  1-4  cents 
each  per  week,  $38,025  for  a year.  Balance 
in  favor  of  the  workmen,  $27,525.  (See 
Frazer's  Mag.,  vol.  c.,  p.  777.) 

The  figures  here  given  do  not  represent  all 
the  strikes  which  occurred  in  the  years  men- 
tioned. They  were  taken  from  the  successful 
strikes  only.  During  the  same  years  there  were 
very  many  strikes  that  were  wholly  or  partially 
unsuccessful,  and  they  were  a total  loss  to  the 
strikers  as  well  as  to  the  community  in  general. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  amount  of  gain 
in  each  case  is  for  one  year  only.  The  favor- 
able balance  will  have  the  more  significance 
when  we  consider  that  in  most  cases  the  gain 
was  permanent. 

This  is  the  very  best  showing  that  can  be 
made  from  a few  of  the  most  successful  strikes, 
and  the  gain  derived  is  wholly  one-sided.  We 
must  always  remember,  however,  that  this  gain 
is  fully  counterbalanced  by  the  losses  of  the  un- 
successful strikes.  Very  many,  especially  of 
the  more  recent  strikes,  are  unsuccessful  and 
result  not  only  in  a loss  of  time  and  wages 


132 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


while  the  strike  is  in  progress,  but  often  large 
numbers  of  workmen  are  thrown  out  of  em- 
ployment and  forced  to  remain  for  a long  time 
in  idleness  or  to  seek  other  work  to  which  they 
are  unaccustomed.  Such  an  unsuccessful 
strike  occurred  recently  in  the  coke  regions 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  strikers  lost  $100,000 
in  wages,  and  of  the  12,000  men  who  went 
out,  5,000  were  permanently  discharged.  The 
engineers’  strike  on  the  C.  B.  & Q.  railroad  was 
also  a total  failure.  The  waste  of  three  mil- 
lion dollars  brought  no  gain  at  all  to  the 
strikers,  but  only  resulted  in  a complete  vic- 
tory for  the  management  of  the  road,  and  the 
loss  of  thir  positions  for  the  greater  portion  of 
the  men.  Such  has  been  the  fate  of  nearly 
every  great  strike  in  America,  so  that  were  we 
to  draw  up  a balance  sheet  the  results  of  this 
method  of  settling  labor  disputes  would  be 
found  to  tell  heavily  against  the  workingmen. 

A strike  organized  without  sufficient  cause 
seldom  succeeds.  It  ought  not  to  succeed, 
since  it  is  apt  to  disturb  the  peace  of  an  entire 
community  and  cause  greatest  discomfort  to 
those  who  are  in  no  way  concerned  in  the  dis- 
pute from  which  it  sprung.  An  ill-advised  or 
an  unjust  strike  may  by  its  losses  more  than 
counterbalance  the  gain  derived  from  one  that 
is  successful.  From  this  point  of  view  strikes 
pay  in  the  inverse  ratio  of  their  frequency; 


The  Economics  of  the  Strike.  133 

but  at  best  they  pay  one  class  of  society  at  the 
expense  of  others. 

This  fact  ought  ever  to  be  kept  in  mind.  In 
a certain  limited  sense  peaceful  and  successful 
strikes  are  profitable  to  the  workmen.  But 
every  strike , whether  successful  or  not , is  a 
total  loss  to  the  community  as  a whole . Thus, 
referring  to  the  illustrations  given  above,  in 
the  year  1873  the  community  lost  $36,000,  plus 
the  profit  thereon  in  productive  labor.  In  1874 
the  loss  was  $39,600,  plus  profit.  In  1875 
the  loss  was  $37,800,  plus  profit.  And  so 
through  all  the  years.  This  is  the  loss  as  it 
appears  in  the  figures  given,  and  no  one  can 
tell  how  much  of  incidental  loss  should  be 
added.  And  this  loss  can  never  be  made  up  in 
any  way.  It  is  like  so  much  wealth  cast  into 
the  flames  and  utterly  consumed. 

A strike  is  a war  measure  which  may  at 
times  be  necessary  (if  war  is  ever  necessary) 
to  meet  oppression  and  dishonesty,  and  to  se- 
cure the  rights  of  a particular  class  of  men; 
but  the  time  wasted,  the  property  destroyed, 
and  the  production  hindered  are  an  absolute 
loss  to  the  world  at  large.  They  are  the  in- 
demnity which  society  pays  for  injustice. 

By  draining  the  treasury  of  our  land  at  the 
rate  of  more  than  ten  millions  of  dollars  every 
year,  strikes  have  become  a prominent  factor 
among  the  causes  of  poverty.  They  have  in- 
creased the  evil  they  were  designed  to  cure. 


134  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

They  have  opened  a wide  avenue  of  waste 
whose  effects  are  felt  most  keenly  by  laboring 
men.  Surely  their  day  is  nearly  past.  The  in- 
telligence of  American  workingmen  will  not 
long  permit  them  to  use  so  expensive  and  bar- 
barous a remedy  for  social  diseases.  The  pro- 
gressive spirit  of  the  age  demands  the  use  of 
methods  which  shall  be  at  once  more  econom- 
ical and  more  permanent  in  their  results. 


The  Economics  of  Speculation.  135 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  ECONOMICS  OF  SPECULATION. 

To  speculate  is  American.  In  no  other 
country  is  speculation  carried  on  to  such  an  ex- 
tent as  in  ours.  The  sum  total  of  our  specu- 
lative trade  presses  close  upon  the  aggregate  of 
our  national  wealth.  The  practice  of  specula- 
tion is  well-nigh  universal.  We  have  profes- 
sional speculators  and  amateur  speculators. 
We  speculate  in  produce,  we  speculate  in  land. 
We  speculate  in  manufactures,  in  railways,  in 
mines,  in  stocks  and  bonds,  in  gold,  in  iron, 
in  live  stock.  We  speculate  in  anything  and 
everything.  The  rich  speculate  and  the  poor 
speculate.  Saints  speculate,  and  sinners  specu- 
late. Not  only  bankers  and  brokers,  but  mer- 
chants, mechanics,  lawyers,  doctors,  legisla- 
tors, ministers  of  the  Gospel,  dry-goods  clerks, 
newsboys,  and  bootblacks,  endeavor  to  multi- 
ply their  legitimate  earnings  by  some  form  of 
speculation.  Even  ladies  who  must  earn  their 
own  livelihood  are  trying  their  skill  in  the 
way  of  speculation;  and  many  a snug  little 
fortune  has  been  accumulated  by  the  keen  spec- 
ulative instinct  of  women. 


136 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


Of  course  the  entire  amount  of  the  specula- 
tive trade  throughout  the  entire  country  can- 
not be  accurately  estimated;  for  its  methods 
and  forms  are  too  complex  to  be  easily  traced. 
But  a glance  at  the  work  of  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal centers  of  speculation  is  sufficient  to  show 
how  enormously  disproportionate  is  this  ele- 
ment in  our  national  commerce.  The  trans- 
actions of  the  Chicago  Board  of  Trade  amount 
to  more  than  three  billions  of  dollars  in  a 
single  year;  of  which  more  than  seven-eighths 
are  purely  speculative.  The  speculative  trades 
of  the  various  Exchanges  in  New  York  are  es- 
timated at  from  four  to  five  billions  annually. 
These  sums  are,  however,  small  in  comparison 
with  the  deals  of  the  Stock  Exchange.  Several 
years  ago  it  was  estimated  that  the  par  value 
of  the  annual  sales  in  the  New  York  Stock 
Exchange  exceeds  twenty-two  billion  dollars . 
The  entire  wealth  of  the  country  in  1880  was 
less  than  forty-four  billions  of  dollars,  or  less 
than  double  the  sum  involved  in  the  transac- 
tions of  this  single  Exchange. 

The  smaller  cities  have  their  Boards  of  Trade 
which  do  a business  corresponding  with  their 
size  and  importance.  An  experienced  mem- 
ber of  the  Chicago  Board  estimates  their  num- 
ber at  more  than  fifteen  hundred.  The  trans- 
actions of  the  Stock  Exchange  are  repeated 
with  small  amounts  in  almost  every  broker’s 
office  in  the  land.  In  every  community  we 


The  Economics  of  Speculation.  137 

find  men  trying  to  imitate  with  their  limited 
resources  the  movements  of  the  Bulls  and 
Bears  of  Wall  Street.  These  minor  enter- 
prises taken  separately  appear  insignificant  in 
comparison  with  the  traffic  at  the  great  centers 
of  speculation;  but  the  vast  number  of  them 
taken  together  gives  an  aggregate  which  is  by 
no  means  trifling. 

It  needs  no  argument  to  prove  that  this 
speculative  element  in  our  commerce,  involv- 
ing as  it  does  such  immense  sums  of  money 
and  extending  so  widely  through  all  classes  of 
society,  exerts  a controlling  influence  for  the 
quickening  or  depression  of  trade,  and  be- 
comes an  important  factor  in  the  distribution 
(or  rather  in  the  disturbance ) of  wealth. 
Plainly  the  economic  effect  of  so  much  specula- 
tion must  be  either  very  good  or  very  bad; 
but  whether  it  is  good  or  whether  it  is  bad  is 
not  so  plain,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  dis- 
agreement of  the  doctors.  Opinions  differ 
very  widely  upon  the  subject.  One  class  of 
economists  declares  that,  “ Speculation  is  the 
Soul  of  Trade.”  Another  class,  with  equal 
confidence,  asserts  that  speculation  is  subver- 
sive of  the  interests  of  legitimate  trade.  A 
financial  panic  sweeps  over  the  land  and  many 
voices  are  heard  denouncing  speculators  as  the 
cause  of  the  trouble.  Other  voices  as  many 
and  as  loud  defend  speculation  and  find  the 
cause  of  the  disturbance  elsewhere.  Yet  in 


138  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

their  disagreement  all  are  agreed  on  one  point. 
Every  voice,  whether  raised  in  denunciation  or 
defense,  testifies  to  the  extent  of  speculation 
and  its  important  influence  in  every  commercial 
movement.  In  these  days  of  economic  study 
and  social  agitation,  when  so  much  is  said 
about  the  causes  and  cure  of  poverty,  the  un- 
equal distribution  of  wealth,  and  kindred  sub- 
jects, we  naturally  turn  to  the  question  of 
speculation,  expecting  to  find  in  it  the  key  by 
which  some  of  these  other  questions  may  be 
solved. 

In  his  work  on  Progress  and  Poverty , 
Mr.  Henry  George  says : “ Production  and 
consumption  fail  to  meet  and  satisfy  each 
other.  How  does  this  inability  arise?  It  is 
evidently  and  by  common  consent  the  result 
of  speculation.  But  of  speculation  in  what? 
Certainly  not  of  speculation  in  things  which 
are  the  products  of  labor, — in  agricultural  or 
mineral  productions,  or  manufactured  goods; 
for  the  effect  of  speculation  in  such  things,  as 
is  well  shown  in  current  treatises  which  spare 
me  the  necessity  of  illustration,  is  simply  to 
equalize  supply  and  demand,  and  to  steady  the 
interplay  of  consumption  and  production  by 
an  action  analogous  to  that  of  a fly-wheel  in  a 
machine.  Therefore  if  speculation  be  the 
cause  of  these  industrial  depressions,  it  must 
be  speculation  in  things  not  the  production  of 
labor,  but  yet  necessary  to  the  exertion  of  labor 


The  Economics  of  Speculation.  139 


in  the  production  of  wealth, — of  things  of 
fixed  quantity ; that  is  to  say,  it  must  be  specu- 
lation in  land.” 

This  is  the  way  in  which  the  founder  of  the 
great  Anti-Poverty  Society  disposes  of  the 
question  of  speculation  and  makes  it  pay  trib- 
ute to  his  pet  theory.  The  utter  absence  of 
argument  and  proof  must  strike  any  but  the 
most  thoughtless.  Moreover  his  conclusion  is 
at  once  illogical  and  wholly  inconsistent  with 
observed  facts.  Speculation  is  speculation 
wherever  it  appears,  and  its  nature  and  effects 
are  everywhere  the  same.  The  most  casual 
study  shows  us  that  speculation  in  land  is  a 
mere  peccadillo  when  compared  with  the  other 
forms  of  speculation  carried  on  in  America. 
Furthermore,  even  at  the  risk  of  seeming  to 
contradict  ( for,  as  we  shall  see  later,  the  con- 
tradiction is  only  seeming),  that. somewhat  un- 
certain authority  expressed  in  the  general 
phrase  “ current  treatises,”  we  assert  that  no 
form  of  speculation  tends  to  equalize  supply 
and  demand,  or  to  steady  the  interplay  of  pro- 
duction and  consumption.  Very  far  from  it. 
The  sole  tendency  of  speculation  in  anything  is 
to  disturb  the  equilibrium  of  trade,  to  hinder 
legitimate  exchange,  and  to  increase  the  in- 
equality in  the  distribution  of  wealth. 

In  our  great  metropolis  we  see  “ grinding 
poverty  and  fabulous  wealth  walk  side  by 
side.”  In  the  tenements  and  attics  are  huddled 


140 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


together  multitudes  of  poor  workers  of  every 
sort  struggling  night  and  day  against  starva- 
tion, not  a few  of  them  driven  to  lives  of  sin 
or  a suicide's  death  by  the  power  of  despair. 
Close  by  them  on  the  grand  avenues  we  may 
meet  men  whose  fortunes  are  almost  incredi- 
ble. The  Vanderbilt  property  exceeds  two 
hundred  millions  of  dollars,  and  Jay  Gould 
forgets  whether  he  signed  a check  for  five  mil- 
lions or  fifty  millions.  What  is  the  cause  of 
this  startling  inequality?  What  has  taken  the 
money  from  the  pockets  of  the  many  and  swept 
it  into  the  coffers  of  the  few?  I answer  in  a 
word, — Speculation. 

I do  not  mean  to  say  that  all  the  very  rich 
or  all  the  very  poor  are  speculators;  for  that 
would  be  manifestly  untrue.  A.  T.  Stewart 
was  not  a speculator,  yet  at  his  death  he  was 
worth  fifty  millions  of  dollars.  John  Jacob 
Astor  accumulated  twenty  millions,  of  which 
only  a small  portion  was  the  fruit  of  specula- 
tion. The  elder  Vanderbilt  amassed  a fortune 
of  from  sixty  to  a hundred  millions,  much  of  it 
entirely  independent  of  speculation.  On  the 
other  hand  very  many  of  the  poorest  people 
have  never  meddled  with  speculation.  There 
are  other  causes,  specified  in  the  foregoing 
chapters,  which  must  account  for  many  indi- 
vidual cases  of  poverty  and  a few  of  the  large 
fortunes  in  the  land ; but  speculation  is  the 
underlying  force  which,  more  than  any  other, 


The  Economics  of  Speculation.  141 

disturbs  the  natural  laws  and  conditions  of 
trade,  and  brings  about  such  inequality  of 
wealth  where  all  should  be  comfortable  and 
none  should  be  overburdened  with  riches. 

Doubtless  Mr.  George,  in  the  expression 
“ current  treatises/'  refers,  among  others,  to 
the  works  of  John  Stuart  Mill,  who  says : 
“ The  operations  of  speculative  dealers  are  use- 
ful to  the  public  when  profitable  to  themselves ; 
and  though  they  are  sometimes  injurious  to 
the  public,  by  heightening  the  fluctuations 
which  their  more  usual  office  is  to  alleviate, 
yet  whenever  this  happens,  the  speculators  are 
the  greatest  losers."  Similar  statements  may 
be  found  in  the  writings  of  other  well-known 
economists.  With  them  I have  no  dispute; 
for  their  meaning  is  clear  to  one  who  reads 
their  works,  and  the  truthfulness  of  their  con- 
clusions is  for  the  most  part  unquestioned. 
But  they  use  the  word  “ speculation  ” in  a pe- 
culiar sense,  and  one  that  is  nearly  obsolete  at 
the  present  day;  a sense  quite  different  from 
that  which  Americans  attach  to  it.  In  fact 
the  meaning  of  the  word  has  been  undergoing 
a process  of  evolution  during  the  past  half 
century,  so  that  what  our  fathers  called  specu- 
lation we  should  fail  to  recognize  under  that 
title.  Some  writers  make  a distinction  be- 
tween “ legitimate  ” and  “ excessive  ” specu- 
lation; whereas  all  speculation  in  the  modern 
sense  is  excessive. 


142  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

I ...  - 

We  must  carefully  distinguish  between  the 
two  different  senses  in  which  the  word  is  used. 
When  Mr.  Mill  and  economists  of  his  class 
use  the  word,  they  apply  it  to  transactions 
based  upon  the  actual  possession  and  exchange 
of  the  commodities  involved.  With  them  it 
signifies  nothing  more  than  trade  in  which  un- 
usual risks  are  taken.  The  man  who  buys  up 
the  surplus  wheat  crop  of  this  year  in  order  that 
he  may  profit  by  the  probable  shortage  next 
year  is  a speculator  in  this  sense  of  the  word. 
So  also  is  the  man  who  buys  railroad  or  bank 
stocks  and  holds  them  till  an  increase  in  their 
value  enables  him  to  sell  them  at  a good  profit. 
Speculation  in  land  belongs,  strictly,  speaking, 
to  this  same  class,  since  it  implies  the  actual 
buying  and  selling  of  land.  I do  not  know 
that  there  is  any  form  of  speculation  in  land 
that  does  not  imply  a real  transfer  of  owner- 
ship. 

The  form  of  speculation  which  prevails  most 
extensively  in  our  country  to-day  is  essentially 
different  from  this.  It  consists  in  the  transfer 
of  paper  contracts  merely  and  has  little  or  no 
foundation  in  actual  exchange  of  commodities. 
It  is  in  reality  only  a form  of  gambling  or 
betting  upon  the  chances  of  a rise  or  fall  in  the 
price  of  any  given  commodity,  and  is  carried 
on  without  reference  to  real  possession.  Thou- 
sands of  young  men  speculate  in  stocks  who 
never  have  money  enough  at  any  time  to  pur- 


The  Economics  of  Speculation.  143 

chase  whole  shares  of  any  stock.  Having 
scraped  together  a few  dollars,  they  invest  in 
“ margins,”  that  is,  they  deposit  with  a 
broker  enough  money  to  cover  the  change  in 
value  of  a few  shares  of  stock  within  a limited 
range.  If  the  stock  falls  to  the  limit  within 
the  time  specified,  the  depositor  loses  his 
money.  If  it  rises,  he  wins  the  amount  of  in- 
crease. In  either  case  he  has  not  owned  a single 
share  of  stock,  and  perhaps  his  broker  has  not. 
Similar  to  this  are  the  methods  of  speculation 
in  the  various  exchanges.  While  a few  men 
really  buy  and  sell  wheat,  the  majority  of  spec- 
ulators buy  and  sell  promises.  One  man 
makes  a contract  with  another  to  sell  him  a 
million  bushels  of  wheat  at  a certain  price  and 
time.  He  neither  owns  nor  intends  to  own 
any  wheat;  but  when  the  time  comes  to  fulfil 
his  contract,  if  the  price  of  wheat  has  risen 
above  the  stipulated  price,  he  settles  with  the 
purchaser  by  paying  the  difference.  If  the 
price  has  fallen,  the  purchaser  pays  him  the 
difference.  From  the  first  neither  buyer  nor 
seller  expected  any  other  outcome  of  the  trade. 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  speculation  in 
our  land  consists  in  these  fictitious  or  paper 
trades.  For  example,  the  entire  cotton  crop 
of  the  world,  available  for  American  and  Eu- 
ropean consumption,  is  about  seven  million 
bales  of  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds 
each  in  a year.  The  amount  of  cotton  sold  in 


144  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

the  exchanges  is  over  eighty  million  bales,  hav- 
a value  of  five  billion  dollars.  In  this  case  the 
ratio  of  fictitious  trades  to  the  real  is  more 
than  ten  to  one.  When  less  than  seventy 
million  bushels  of  wheat  are  received  at  the 
New  York  Exchange,  more  than  nine  hundred 
millions  are  sold,  giving  about  the  same  ratio 
as  before.  In  the  year  1882  the  entire  oil 
product  of  the  country  was  twenty-four  mil- 
lion barrels,  and  the  amount  sold  in  the  Pe- 
troleum Exchange  was  two  billion  barrels, 
showing  a ratio  of  more  than  eighty  dollars  of 
fictitious  trade  to  one  dollar  of  real  trade.  The 
same  process  is  repeated  with  iron  and  coal  and 
various  other  extensive  products  of  the  coun- 
try. 

Now  it  does  not  require  any  unusual  keen- 
ness of  intellect  to  distinguish  between  the  dif- 
ferent uses  of  the  term  “ speculation.”  As  I 
have  said,  in  the  writings  of  the  standard 
economists  the  word  signifies  any  form  of 
trade  involving  unusual  risks  with  the  ex- 
pectation of  deriving  unusual  profits.  In  its 
modern  sense,  speculation  implies  the  use  of 
artificial  methods  to  create  trade  and  derive 
profits  without  regard  to  production  or  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand.  The  original  use 
of  the  word  has  been  superseded  and  wisely, 
for  it  was  equally  indefinite  and  unsatisfactory. 
In  view  of  the  countless  and  varied  risks  in 
trade,  who  can  say  at  precisely  what  point  a 


Ihe  Economics  of  Speculation.  145 

risk  becomes  unusual  ? Or  who  can  define 
unusual  profits?  In  our  day  and  land  no  risk 
and  no  profit  would  be  universally  recognized 
as  unusual.  On  the  other  hand,  the  use  of  the 
term  to  signify  artificial  methods  of  trade  and 
gain  is  very  definite  and  meets  with  universal 
acceptance.  It  will  be  seen  that  this  latter  defi- 
nition covers  all  the  speculative  transactions 
described  in  the  preceding  pages;  whereas  the 
older  definition  could  only  be  applied  to  trans- 
actions of  a wholly  different  nature  which  differ 
from  ordinary  trade  simply  in  the  amount  of 
money  involved,  or  in  the  commodities  ex- 
changed. 

When  Mr.  Vanderbilt  obtained  control  of 
the  Harlem  Railroad,  and  by  his  skilful  man- 
agementof  the  road  raised  the  price  of  the  stock 
from  about  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  par  value 
to  over  two  hundred  per  cent.,  the  profit  de- 
rived was  natural  and  legitimate.  The  in- 
crease in  the  price  of  stock  indicated  a corre- 
sponding rise  in  value  brought  about  by  the 
improved  condition  of  the  railroad.  But  when 
a similar  change  was  produced  in  the  price 
of  other  railroad  stocks  by  combination  and 
manipulation  of  brokers,  while  the  real  value 
of  the  roads  and  stocks  remained  unchanged, 
that  was  speculation.  The  profits  thus  de- 
rived represented  no  benefit  conferred  upon  the 
public,  but  were  the  fruit  of  artifice  and  fraud. 
The  man  who  buys  a whole  railroad  at  once 
10 


146 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


is  not  necessarily  a speculator,  any  more  than 
is  the  grocer  who  buys  a dozen  of  eggs,  in  the 
expectation  of  selling  them  again  at  a profit. 

It  is  in  its  artificial  nature  that  the  evil  of 
speculation  consists;  and  whenever  this  arti- 
ficial element  enters  into  trade  its  effect  is  evil 
and  only  evil.  It  is  not  a question  of  legiti- 
mate and  excessive  speculation.  Whether 
little  or  much,  speculation  is  always  injurious 
in  proportion  to  its  extent. 

The  paper  contracts  of  the  various  Ex- 
changes already  mentioned,  involving  billions 
of  dollars,  imply  an  actual  loss  on  one  side  and 
gain  on  the  other  of  hundreds  of  millions. 
This  enormous  sum  of  money  does  not  repre- 
sent any  benefit  conferred  on  the  community, 
any  real  value  received,  but  is  absorbed  by  the 
fortunate  speculators  without  any  return  what- 
ever, leaving  the  country  at  large  so  much 
poorer.  Worse  than  this,  real  prices  every- 
where are  largely  determined,  not  by  the  nat- 
ural law  of  supply  and  demand,  but  by  the  fic- 
titious prices  of  speculators.  Men  pay  for 
bread,  not  what  it  actually  costs  to  raise  the 
wheat  and  manufacture  it  and  carry  it  to  them, 
but  what  can  be  extorted  from  them  by  the 
tricks  and  combinations  of  the  Exchange  gam- 
blers. The  variations  in  the  prices  of  the 
different  necessary  commodities  as  reported  in 
the  Exchanges  are  felt  most  keenly  by  the  poor 


The  Economics  of  Speculation.  147 

laborers  of  the  world.  Every  transaction  of  a 
speculative  nature  increases  the  cost  of  the 
commodity  involved  by  the  amount  of  the 
profit  made. 

The  commercial  history  of  America  abounds 
with  illustrations  of  the  way  in  which  the 
prices  of  the  most  necessary  articles  are  arti- 
ficially raised  and  lowered  when  there  has  been 
no  real  inequality  of  supply  and  demand. 
Corners  in  wheat,  gold,  iron,  and  coal  are  of 
frequent  occurrence.  Thousands  of  poor  peo- 
ple may  be  starving  for  want  of  bread  while 
millions  of  bushels  of  wheat  lie  stored  away 
in  the  elevators,  held  to  compel  a rise  in  prices. 
And  when  the  rise  comes  a few  men  are  made 
rich  by  means  of  the  injury  they  have  inflicted 
upon  society.  All  this  is  plainly  evil.  In  such 
transactions  there  is  more  of  the  dynamite 
bomb  than  of  the  “ balance  wheel.” 

Again,  take  the  case  of  speculation  in  stocks. 
The  man  who  actually  buys  a number  of  shares 
in  some  good  railway  and  receives  his  divi- 
dends from  the  earnings  of  the  road,  however 
large  those  dividends  may  be,  is  deriving 
profits  for  which  the  work  of  the  railroad  is 
an  adequate  return  to  society.  The  benefit  is 
approximately  equal  to  all  parties  concerned. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  man  who  invests  in 
margins  or  in  stocks  and  derives  a profit  from 
the  rise  in  price  which  is  wholly  independent  of 
the  real  value  of  the  stocks,  receives  money 


148 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


for  which  he  makes  no  return  to  society  at 
large  or  to  the  individuals  whose  loss  contrib- 
uted to  his  gain.  In  all  such  transactions 
every  dollar  of  gain  to  one  represents  a corre- 
sponding dollar  of  loss  to  another.  The  al- 
most incredible  fortunes  that  have  been 
amassed  in  railroad  speculation  may  be  accu- 
rately measured  by  the  losses  of  countless 
smaller  speculators  all  over  the  land.  Wall 
Street  is  the  great  financial  Maelstrom  into 
whose  vortex  are  sucked  the  wages  of  many 
thousands  of  productive  laborers.  The  move- 
ments of  the  stock  market  are  analogous  to  the 
filling  and  squeezing  of  an  immense  sponge. 
The  earnings  of  myriad  workers  all  over  the 
land  are  drawn  into  speculative  trade  by  the 
hope  of  suddenly  acquired  riches,  and  when 
it  is  well  filled  the  sponge  is  quietly  squeezed 
into  the  pockets  of  the  great  speculators,  leav- 
ing the  vast  majority  of  investors  to  mourn 
over  their  losses.  The  gain  of  a million  dol- 
lars by  one  man  on  Wall  Street  may  thus  be- 
speak the  loss  of  their  entire  savings  for  a 
thousand  hard-working  mechanics  or  artisans 
scattered  from  Maine  to  California. 

The  effect  of  all  speculation  of  this  kind  is  to 
increase  the  inequality  in  the  distribution  of 
wealth,  and  to  drive  the  extremes  of  society 
more  widely  apart  than  ever.  By  speculation 
as  a rule  the  rich  grow  richer  and  the  poor 
poorer.  Since  speculation  depends  for  its  sue- 


The  Economics  of  Speculation.  149 

cess  upon  the  artificial  raising  and  lowering  of 
prices,  it  is  self-evident  that  the  rich  man  who 
invests  millions  can  exert  a much  greater  in- 
fluence upon  the  market  than  the  poor  man 
who  invests  but  a few  dollars.  The  clerk  of 
moderate  means  who  invests  ten  dollars  in 
margins  is  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  the  market. 
He  must  gain  or  lose  as  others  shall  determine. 
While  a rich  neighbor  who  has  bought  the 
same  stocks  is  comparatively  independent. 
When  the  price  of  stock  is  forced  down,  those 
who  have  expended  their  little  surplus  in  mar- 
gins lose  all  as  soon  as  the  fall  reaches  a given 
point;  but  one  whose  resources  are  far  in  ad- 
vance of  his  investment  can  tide  over  the 
period  of  adverse  fortune,  and  by  holding  his 
stock  for  a rise  in  prices  may  make  a large 
profit  in  the  end.  It  is  this  ceaseless  crushing 
of  small  investors  between  their  wheels  that 
keeps  the  great  speculators  from  ruining  each 
other,  and  fills  their  pockets  amid  all  the  fluc- 
tuations of  the  market. 

A principle  recognized  by  all  true  economists 
requires  that  for  every  dollar  which  an  individ- 
ual receives  from  others,  he  should  make  an 
equivalent  return.  The  speculator  boldly  sets 
this  principle  at  defiance,  and  seeks  to  extort  as 
many  dollars  as  possible  from  his  fellow-men 
without  making  any  return.  The  result  of 
speculation  is  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  a 


150  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

lottery  or  in  ordinary  gambling : — the  few  are 
enriched,  the  many  are  impoverished. 

When  we  consider  that  this  process  is  con- 
stantly going  on,  that  more  than  five  hundred 
million  dollars  are  annually  transferred  from 
the  pockets  of  producers  to  the  pockets  of  non- 
producers by  a method  equivalent  to  gambling 
with  loaded  dice,  can  we  wonder  at  the  grow- 
ing inequalities  in  our  American  society  ? Do 
we  not  see  in  this  fact  an  easy  and  abundant 
explanation  of  some  of  the  problems  that  meet 
the  social  student  of  to-day?  It  must  be  evi- 
dent to  all  that  so  long  as  speculation  continues 
the  equitable  (not  equal)  distribution  of  wealth 
cannot  be  realized,  the  equilibrium  of  society 
cannot  be  maintained,  the  greatest  evils  of 
poverty  cannot  be  done  away.  Here  is  a cen- 
tripetal force  of  the  first  magnitude  ever  work- 
ing toward  the  centralization  of  wealth,  and 
running  counter  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  social  economy.  So  long  as  the  force  con- 
tinues in  operation  we  may  expect  the  results 
to  continue.  If  we  would  remove  the  results, 
we  must  first  try  to  remove  the  cause  which 
produces  them.  It  is  a time  therefore  when 
every  sincere  reformer  and  economist  should 
declare  plainly  against  speculation.  The  line 
should  be  carefully  drawn  between  specula- 
tive and  legitimate  trade ; and  the  former 
should  be  ruled  out  of  all  respectable  business 
circles. 


The  Ethics  of  Labor. 


i5i 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  ETHICS  OF  LABOR. 

We  hear  a great  deal  just  at  the  present 
time  about  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  labor. 
Much  has  been  said  and  written  upon  the  sub- 
ject by  thoughtful  persons  from  every  class  of 
society,  and  by  agitators  and  busybodies  who 
are  too  often  the  very  reverse  of  thoughtful. 
It  is  generally  spoken  of  as  a social  question, 
and  the  moral  aspect  of  the  subject  is  by  many 
either  forgotten  or  ignored.  Yet  this  is  the 
most  important  of  all  elements,  for  it  lies  at 
the  foundation  of  the  subject.  The  words 
“ rights  ” and  “ wrongs  ” are  ethical  terms, 
and  whenever  we  use  them  we  imply  that  we 
are  dealing  with  a moral  question,  whether  we 
recognize  the  fact  or  not.  Whenever  the  terms 
are  used  in  connection  with  labor  and  the  la- 
borer, there  is  the  implication  that  labor  has  a 
certain  moral  value  or  a certain  moral  relation 
to  society  and  to  wealth.  In  other  words, 
the  amount  of  labor  which  each  individual 
must  perform  in  the  course  of  his  life  and 
the  proportion  of  wealth  that  he  shall  re- 


152 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


ceive  in  return  for  his  labor  are  not  mere  prob- 
lems of  science,  to  be  solved  by  the  skilful 
adjustment  of  social  machinery,  and  largely 
conditioned  by  the  changing  relations  of 
society.  They  are  questions  of  real  moral 
gravity,  to  be  answered  by  an  appeal  to  the 
eternal  principles  of  truth  and  righteousness; 
and  every  man  will  be  held  accountable  at  the 
bar  of  Divine  justice  for  the  way  in  which 
he  answers  them. 

The  majority  of  mankind  look  upon  the 
world  of  society  as  a great  reservoir  from 
which,  by  some  means  honest  or  dishonest,  they 
are  to  draw  out  whatever  each  one  may  con- 
sider necessary  for  his  sustenance  and  enjoy- 
ment. They  never  ask  who  stores  the  reser- 
voir, or  what  will  become  of  their  fellow-men 
when  it  is  drained  of  its  contents.  Still  less  do 
they  think  that  they  have  any  duty  in  the  matter 
of  filling  it.  They  say,  “ The  world  owes  us 
a living  and  we  are  going  to  have  it,”  and  they 
do  not  stop  to  inquire  what  is  the  ground  of 
this  indebtedness,  or  whether  it  has  any  limit 
other  than  the  limit  of  their  own  capacity  to 
consume  and  to  enjoy. 

Such  a claim  needs  but  to  be  stated  to  be 
repudiated  by  every  candid,  intelligent  mind. 
The  fallacy  is  self-evident.  It  calls  for  no 
argument,  but  for  indignant  denial.  The 
world  owes  no  man  a living;  and  whoever 
takes  a living  without  earning  it  is  a thief. 


The  Ethics  of  Labor.  153 

Justice  requires  that  each  individual  should  re- 
ceive his  fair  share  of  the  means  of  earning  a 
living;  but  these  being  put  within  his  reach  he 
alone  is  responsible  for  their  use  or  the  neglect 
to  use  them,  and  he  has  a right  only  to  such 
a living  as  he  actually  produces  from  them. 
The  existing  wealth  of  the  world  is  simply  that 
which  men  have  produced  by  applying  their 
energy  to  the  God-given  means  of  production. 
Each  man,  therefore,  has  a right  to  take  from 
this  accumulated  store  of  wealth  just  as  much 
as  he  puts  into  it,  and  no  more  ; neither  may  he 
put  in  of  one  kind  and  take  out  of  another  ex- 
cept by  permission.  He  may  not  put  in  gravel 
and  demand  gold  in  return  unless  his  fellow- 
men  really  want  gravel  and  are  willing  to  pay 
for  it  with  the  precious  metal.  In  point  of 
fact,  the  world  is  always  liberal  in  dealing  with 
the  individual,  and  men  receive  from  society’s 
treasure  house  in  the  aggregate  much  more 
than  they  put  in.  Where  the  working  of  nat- 
ural laws  is  unhindered,  each  one  of  us  re- 
ceives a considerable  gratuity  from  the  earn- 
ings of  those  who  have  gone  before.  But  this 
is  a matter  of  grace,  not  of  strict  desert. 

The  rights  of  labor  may  be  easily  and  accu- 
rately stated.  Having  a just  share  of  the  means 
of  production,  every  laborer  may  claim  just 
what  he  produces  therefrom,  nothing  more  and 
nothing  less.  If  he  desires  other  products,  he 
may  either  change  the  direction  of  his  labor  so 


i54 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


as  to  secure  them  for  himself,  or  he  may  ex- 
change his  own  products  for  the  products  of 
others,  the  amounts  given  and  received  being 
determined  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 

There  is  a notion  quite  prevalent  among 
laboring  people  that  the  man  who  does  the 
hardest  work  ought  to  receive  the  largest  pay, 
and  so  should  be  the  richest  of  men  and  live  in 
the  greatest  luxury.  Those  who  hold  this 
theory  usually  estimate  the  severity  of  labor 
from  a wholly  physical  standpoint.  A simple 
illustration  will  suffice  to  demonstrate  the  fal- 
lacy of  this  idea.  Let  two  men  occupy  adjoin- 
ing fields.  One  labors  diligently,  but  moder- 
ately, cultivating  his  land,  and  raises  a fine 
crop.  The  other  rolls  a huge  rock  about  his 
field  from  morning  till  night  and  day  after  day, 
toiling  much  more  severely  than  his  neighbor, 
but  producing  no  crop.  Should  the  weary, 
struggling  rock-roller  have  a better  living  than 
the  easy-going  farmer?  Of  course  not.  But 
why  not?  Because  his  labor,  hard  though  it 
may  have  been,  has  produced  nothing.  His 
time  and  energy  have  been  wasted.  He  has  ac- 
complished nothing  by  rolling  the  rock  about 
his  field.  He  has  not  added  one  penny-worth 
to  the  world’s  store  of  wealth,  therefore  he  has 
no  right  to  take  anything  from  the  common 
store  for  his  livelihood.  Indeed,  had  all  men 
spent  their  time  and  strength  in  rolling  rocks, 
though  all  might  have  labored  diligently  and 


The  Ethics  of  Labor.  155 

become  very  much  exhausted  by  their  labor, 
there  would  have  been  no  food  for  anybody  and 
all  must  have  starved.  It  is  not,  therefore, 
the  severity  of  labor,  but  its  productiveness, 
that  determines  its  economic  value  and  its 
moral  worth.  Not  the  hardest  worker,  but  the 
greatest  producer,  is  worthy  of  the  largest  pay. 

Production  is  accomplished  in  two  ways. 
There  is  direct  production  and  indirect  produc- 
tion ; and  it  is  important  that  we  should  recog- 
nize the  latter  as  well  as  the  former.  If  a man 
raises  a thousand  bushels  of  potatoes,  and  in  the 
natural  order  of  things  one-half  of  them  would 
be  allowed  to  decay  for  want  of  a market,  the 
man  who  increases  the  facilities  of  transporta- 
tion so  as  to  save  the  five  hundred  bushels  by 
bringing  them  at  once  to  market,  is  as  truly  a 
producer  as  though  he  had  himself  raised  five 
hundred  bushels  of  potatoes.  This  is  what  is 
meant  by  indirect  production.  Its  forms  and 
methods  are  innumerable;  but  its  result  is  al- 
ways the  same,  viz. : to  increase  the  aggregate 
amount  of  wealth  in  the  world. 

If  a hundred  men  are  engaged  in  a certain 
manufacture,  and  one  of  them,  instead  of  work- 
ing as  the  others  do,  turns  his  mind  to  the 
study  of  mechanics  and  invents  a machine  that 
will  save  a great  deal  of  hard  labor  and  at  the 
same  time  shall  double  the  producing  power  of 
the  other  ninety-nine,  that  one  has  done  more 
than  any  other  to  increase  the  amount  of  pro- 


156  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

duction,  hence  he  is  deserving  of  higher  wages 
than  the  others.  He  has  become  a producer 
indirectly  by  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the 
direct  producers. 

Again,  if  a hundred  men  are  cultivating  the 
soil  ignorantly  and  with  rude  implements,  and 
one  comes  to  them,  and,  without  touching  his 
hands  to  the  work,  instructs  the  ignorant  and 
unskilled  laborers  so  that  their  crops  are  much 
larger  while  their  labor  is  appreciably  lightened, 
the  instructor  becomes  the  greatest  producer 
of  all,  though  he  does  not  directly  produce  any- 
thing. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  overseer  in  a 
factory  or  the  manager  of  any  kind  of  work 
receives  higher  wages  than  the  ordinary  work- 
man. His  work  may  not  be  as  hard  as  theirs 
from  any  point  of  view ; but  without  him  their 
labor  would  be  much  less  productive  and  con- 
sequently much  less  valuable.  By  arranging 
and  controlling  the  work  of  all,  he  makes  it 
possible  for  them  to  work  together  and  to  use 
their  time  and  energy  to  the  best  possible  ad- 
vantage. In  this  way  their  power  of  produc- 
tion is  greatly  augmented.  The  “ captains  of 
industry/’  who  direct  the  work  of  others,  are 
our  greatest  producers,  since  it  is  their  skill 
which  adds  most  to  the  wealth  of  the  com- 
munity. 

The  importance  of  indirect  production  is  too 
often  underestimated,  not  to  say  wilfully  be- 


The  Ethics  of  Labor. 


157 


littled,  by  popular  socialistic  agitators.  Even 
among  thoughtful  and  intelligent  writers  upon 
social  economy  there  are  not  a few  who  look 
upon  all  indirect  producers  as  drones  eating 
up  the  honey  which  the  workers  have  gathered. 
Take  a single  illustration  from  the  pen  of 
Adam  Smith: 

“ The  labor  of  some  of  the  most  respectable 
orders  in  society  is,  like  that  of  menial  servants, 
unproductive  of  any  value,  and  does  not  fix  or 
realize  itself  in  any  permanent  subject  or  vend- 
ible commodity,  which  endures  after  the 
labor  is  past,  and  for  which  an  equal  quantity 
of  labor  could  afterwards  be  procured.  The 
sovereign,  for  example,  with  all  the  officers 
both  of  justice  and  of  war  who  serve  under 
him,  the  whole  army  and  navy,  are  unproduc- 
tive laborers.  They  are  the  servants  of  the 
public,  and  are  maintained  by  a part  of  the 
annual  produce  of  the  industry  of  other  people. 
Their  service,  how  honorable,  how  useful,  or 
how  necessary  soever,  produces  nothing  for 
which  an  equal  quantity  of  service  can  after- 
wards be  procured.  The  protection,  security, 
and  defense  of  the  commonwealth,  the  effect 
of  their  labor  this  year,  will  not  purchase  its 
protection,  security  and  defense  for  the  year  to 
come.  In  the  same  class  must  be  ranked  some 
both  of  the  gravest  and  most  important,  and 
some  of  the  most  frivolous  professions : church- 
men, lawyers,  physicians,  men  of  letters  of  all 


158 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


kinds,  players,  buffoons,  musicians,  opera  sing- 
ers, opera  dancers,  etc.  The  labor  of  the  mean- 
est of  these  has  a certain  value  regulated  by  the 
very  same  principles  which  regulate  that  of 
every  other  sort  of  labor;  and  that  of  the  no- 
blest and  most  useful  produces  nothing  which 
could  afterwards  purchase  or  procure  an  equal 
quantity  of  labor.” 

This  passage  well  expresses  the  popular  idea 
regarding  productive  labor ; yet  it  is  very  short- 
sighted and  misleading.  Every  man  ought  to 
be  a productive  laborer  in  some  way ; but  to  in- 
sist that  every  man  become  a direct  producer 
is  to  roll  back  the  wheels  of  civilization  many 
centuries.  It  would  benefit  none,  but  would, 
on  the  contrary,  result  in  great  injury  and  loss 
to  all  classes  of  society,  the  aggregate  amount 
of  production  would  be  lessened,  and  the  na- 
tion's store  of  wealth  would  grow  rapidly 
smaller. 

Consider  the  work  of  some  of  the  profes- 
sions which  the  great  economist  styles  unpro- 
ductive, and  see  if  they  do  not  play  an  impor- 
tant part  in  the  production  of  wealth.  Setting 
aside  for  the  moment  the  highest  ideal  of 
wealth,  let  us  test  the  productiveness  of  each 
profession  by  its  efficiency  in  increasing  the 
material  riches  of  the  world. 

Officers  of  state  and  magistrates  are  not  di- 
rect producers  it  is  true ; but  they  occupy  essen- 
tially the  same  position  in  the  community  as 


The  Ethics  of  Labor. 


159 


overseers  in  a large  factory.  By  watching 
over  and  directing  and  adjusting  the  relations 
of  the  different  classes  of  society,  they  enable 
all  to  work  together  harmoniously  and  with- 
out waste  of  energy.  When  their  work  is  well 
and  faithfully  performed,  the  private  citizens 
of  the  community  are  able  to  produce  much 
more  than  all  could  do  without  such  orderly 
arrangement. 

Clergymen  do  not  add  directly  to  the  wealth 
of  the  country  by  their  professional  labor.  Yet 
they  are  indirect  producers  just  in  proportion 
as  their  preaching  tends  to  elevate  men  and 
to  make  them  more  intelligently  and  con- 
scientiously industrious.  The  productive  effi- 
ciency of  the  work  of  the  Christian  clergy  is 
most  readily  seen  by  observing  the  effects  of 
foreign  missionary  work.  In  cases  where  the 
Gospel  has  been  preached  in  heathen  lands  the 
results  may  be  calculated  with  comparative  ac- 
curacy. Under  the  influence  of  Christian 
preaching,  squalor  gives  place  to  comfort,  idle- 
ness to  thrift,  and  poverty  to  comparative 
plenty.  More  than  all  this,  it  is  a well-attested 
fact  that  for  every  dollar  that  England  and 
America  have  spent  in  foreign  missionary  ef- 
fort they  have  received,  as  a direct  result,  more 
than  ten  dollars  in  trade.  Such  results  are 
more  conspicuous  in  mission  fields  than  in 
Christian  lands ; but  they  are  no  more  real  nor 
important.  The  preaching  of  Gospel  truth  in 


160  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

America  and  Europe  closes  many  avenues  of 
waste,  and  cultivates  in  an  ever  higher  degree 
the  productive  energy  and  thrifty  spirit  of  the 
people.  It  is  bringing  war  to  an  end.  It  re- 
duces the  expense  of  armies  and  police.  In 
good  time  it  will  make  an  end  of  intemperance 
and  kindred  vices.  Surely  that  is  productive 
labor  which  in  so  many  ways  tends  to  increase 
the  wealth  of  mankind. 

Journalists  are  not  direct  producers;  but 
what  would  be  the  effect  upon  society  and  the 
world  if  their  labor  were  discontinued?  The 
most  important  manufacturing  and  commer- 
cial interests  in  the  land  would  be  crippled. 
For  successful  and  profitable  production  two 
conditions  are  necessary, — capacity  to  produce, 
and  a market  for  the  commodity  produced. 
Without  the  latter  the  former  is  of  no  avail. 
The  farmer  who  raises  ten  thousand  bushels  of 
corn  is  no  better  off  than  his  neighbor  who 
raises  only  five  hundred  bushels  unless  he  can 
sell  his  surplus  to  those  who  need  it  for  con- 
sumption. Hence  the  newspaper,  by  publish- 
ing the  needs  of  the  various  markets,  and  in 
countless  lines  of  advertising  and  general  in- 
formation, brings  producers  and  markets 
readily  into  contact  and  thus  becomes  a potent 
factor  in  production. 

In  a similar  way  the  railway  magnate  be- 
comes a producer.  With  iron  links  he  joins 
together  the  most  distantly  separated  producers 


The  Ethics  of  Labor.  161 

and  consumers.  With  constantly  increasing 
speed  he  brings  the  produce  of  the  great  west- 
ern farms  to  the  doors  of  the  workmen  and 
manufacturers  in  the  East.  He  takes  even  the 
most  perishable  fruits  from  the  southern  climes 
and  places  them  all  fresh  and  tempting  on  the 
tables  of  consumers  at  the  North.  For  the 
trifling  sum  of  a cent  and  a quarter  he  trans- 
ports a ton  of  freight  a mile,  so  that  the  most 
distant  markets  are  now  reached  with  less  ex- 
pense than  was  once  incurred  in  reaching  those 
but  a few  miles  from  home.  For  this  reason 
production  has  been  greatly  stimulated  and  the 
latent  resources  of  our  country  have  been 
rapidly  developed.  But  for  the  skill  and  energy 
of  our  great  railroad  men  the  present  wealth 
and  prosperity  of  the  American  nation  would 
still  be  an  incredible  prophecy. 

Teachers  are  producers  indirectly,  because, 
in  the  exercise  of  their  profession,  they  are  in- 
structing those  who  shall  afterwards  engage 
in  productive  labor,  and  are  fitting  them  to 
do  more  and  better  work  than  they  could  do  if 
uneducated. 

Lawyers  are  also  indirect  producers,  in  so 
far  as  their  profession  is  a necessary  part  of  the 
machinery  of  society.  Whatever  of  their  labor 
is  given  to  quibbling  and  to  pettifogging  is 
wasted.  But  the  time  and  effort  spent  in  posi- 
tive directions  such  as  the  perfecting  of  laws^ 
the  maintenance  of  strict  justice,  and  adjusting 
II 


162 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


more  equitably  the  relations  of  men,  prevents 
friction  and  loss,  and  is,  therefore,  properly 
considered  productive  labor. 

So,  too,  the  physician,  by  preserving  the  life 
and  vigor  of  many  productive  workers,  be- 
comes himself  a producer.  The  scientist  dis- 
covers the  laws  and  principles  upon  which  the 
success  of  labor  depends  and  thus  makes  the 
efforts  of  the  laborer  more  effective,  and  the 
inventor  furnishes  new  and  better  instruments 
of  labor,  both  increasing  the  capacity  of  the 
productive  worker,  so  that  with  the  same  out- 
lay of  energy  he  may  produce  much  more,  or 
producing  the  same  may  live  more  easily  and 
toil  less  severely.  Hence  they  too  may  claim 
a place  in  the  ranks  of  productive  laborers. 

The  tradesman  and  banker,  by  facilitating 
the  profitable  or  economical  exchange  of  pro- 
ductions, become  indirect  producers.  Even 
those  professions  which  have  no  other  end 
than  to  amuse  the  public,  as  the  profession  of 
actors  and  singers,  may  be  considered  produc- 
tive in  so  far  as  they  afford  needed  recreation, 
giving  rest  to  weary  toilers,  and  prolonging 
or  increasing  their  power  to  work.  The  ne- 
cessity in  this  direction  is,  however,  so  slight 
in  comparison  with  the  number  of  people  thus 
employed,  and  the  general  effect  of  their  labor 
is  such  that  we  must  include  the  great  ma- 
jority of  public  amusers  among  unproductive 
laborers. 


#fhe  Ethics  of  Labor.  163 

We  cannot  draw  a definite  line  between  the 
different  trades  and  professions,  and  declare 
that  the  representatives  of  one  profession  are 
all  productive  laborers,  while  those  of  some 
other  profession  are  all  unproductive : for  those 
professions  which  we  consider  most  useless  may 
become  productive,  under  certain  circumstances, 
and  those  which  are  generally  accounted  pro- 
ductive may  likewise  become  unproductive.  If 
ten  men  are  working  together  as  farmers,  it 
may  be  to  the  advantage  of  all  that  one  should 
refrain  from  tilling  the  soil  and  give  his  time 
to  the  manufacture  and  repairing  of  tools.  If 
by  so  doing  he  really  facilitates  the  work  of  all 
and  secures  a greater  crop  in  return  for  their 
labor,  his  labor  is  as  truly  productive  as  is 
that  of  the  other  nine  men.  If,  however,  all 
should  say:  The  tool  maker  is  a producer, 
therefore  we  will  make  tools;  then,  however 
diligently  they  labored,  they  would  starve ; for 
none  would  be  real  producers,  since  they  would 
be  manufacturing  articles  not  needed  for  use, 
and  incapable  in  themselves  of  supplying  any 
real  want. 

This  is  actually  the  case  whenever  a trade  or 
profession  becomes  overcrowded.  There  is  no 
increase  of  valuable  production  proportionate  to 
the  increase  of  labor  expended,  consequently 
some  must  suffer  want.  Productiveness  is  not 
a mere  matter  of  creative  efficiency.  Con- 
cerning everything  created  we  must  ask : Does 


164  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

it  really  supply  any  human  need?  And  it  is 
not  a question  of  possibility,  but  of  fact.  Grain 
is  a commodity  largely  in  demand  for  food; 
but  the  farmer  who  raises  grain  when  there 
is  already  more  grain  in  the  market  than  the 
world’s  population  can  consume,  is  not  really 
a productive  laborer.  He  adds  nothing  to  the 
wealth  of  the  world;  for,  since  the  supply  of 
grain  is  already  sufficient,  all  that  he  raises  or 
its  equivalent  must  go  to  waste.  Every  intel- 
ligent man  ought  therefore  to  carefully  distin- 
guish between  severe  toil  and  productive  toil, 
and  also  between  apparent  productiveness  and 
the  true  productiveness  that  meets  and  satis- 
fies some  real  need  of  humanity. 

The  productiveness  of  labor  determines  its 
moral  character  as  well  as  its  economic  value. 
Production  is  a duty.  Unproductiveness  is  a 
sin.  For  him  who  possesses  in  any  degree  the 
capacity  for  production  and  does  not  utilize  it, 
the  fittest  of  all  punishments  is  starvation. 
And  this  is  the  universal  law  whose  operation 
is  seen  in  any  department  of  life  where  the 
Divine  order  is  not  set  aside  by  human  inter- 
ference. He  only  has  a right  to  live  who 
makes  his  own  living.  He  who  merely  ex- 
tracts a living  from  the  store  which  others  have 
gathered  is  a public  malefactor,  even  though 
he  be  content  with  the  smallest  pittance. 

The  popular  method  of  estimating  the  re- 
spectability of  labor  is  very  short-sighted  and 


The  Ethics  of  Labor. 


165 


often  false.  Public  opinion  condemns  the 
thief  who  takes  his  neighbor’s  property  by 
stealth  or  by  force  or  by  certain  proscribed 
methods  of  gambling.  But  if  he  adopts  the 
disguise  of  honest  toil  and  labors  diligently  and 
regularly,  even  though  he  produces  nothing  by 
his  toil,  he  may  take  as  much  as  he  can  from  the 
wealth  which  others  have  produced  and  no  one 
will  call  him  to  account  for  his  action.  Or  he 
may  steal  without  toiling,  if  he  be  shrewd 
enough  to  so  entangle  the  lines  of  his  stealing 
that  his  wealth  when  gained  cannot  be  traced 
directly  to  individual  losers;  and  his  fellow- 
men,  instead  of  censuring  or  punishing  him, 
will  only  praise  his  skill  as  a financier.  Con- 
sequently we  find  in  every  community  a grow- 
ing class  of  unproductive  workers.  Often 
they  are  ambitious;  but  their  ambition  looks 
not  to  the  real  value  of  their  labor.  It  only 
requires  that  their  toil  receive  a rich  remunera- 
tion. They  spend  all  their  energy  and  skill  in 
filching  the  good  things  which  have  been 
gathered  by  the  labor  of  their  fellows.  Like 
the  drones  in  the  bee-hive,  they  are  apt  to 
make  a great  buzzing  and  to  rush  about  with 
an  important  air  as  though  the  life  of  the  en- 
tire community  depended  upon  them ; but  with 
all  their  noise  they  gather  no  honey,  and  only 
drain  the  cells  which  others  have  filled.  Little 
pity  do  they  deserve  when  the  sting  of  an  in- 
dignant worker  puts  an  end  to  their  lazy  exist- 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


166 

ence.  It  were  well  if  the  sting  of  public  con- 
demnation could  forever  make  an  end  of  the 
respectability  of  unproductive  labor.  That 
labor  only  is  truly  respectable — i.  e.y  worthy 
of  respect — which  is  productive  of  good,  which 
makes  the  world  richer,  better,  happier.  They 
only  are  worthy  of  being  counted  in  the  ranks 
of  labor  whose  toil  is  in  some  way  productive, 
whose  lives  are  spent  in  supplying  the  great 
need  of  humanity.  The  mere  money-maker 
or  accumulator, — however  valuable  be  the 
wealth  accumulated, — though  he  labor  many 
long  hours,  and  though  his  hands  be  hardened 
with  toil,  and  his  brain  racked  with  care,  has 
no  claim  to  honor  or  even  to  recognition  among 
the  workers  of  society. 


The  Ethics  of  Speculation.  167 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  ETHICS  OF  SPECULATION. 

The  moral  character  of  speculation  is  sel- 
dom called  in  question.  Although  a certain 
stigma  is  often  attached  to  the  term  “ specula- 
tor/’ and  the  general  public  looks  askance  at 
the  wholesale  transactions  in  the  Exchanges 
and  on  Wall  Street,  it  is  not  from  any  moral 
disapproval  of  the  practice  in  itself  considered, 
but  rather  from  personal  aversion  to  individ- 
uals who  have  acquired  wealth  by  this  means, 
and  the  particular  methods  which  they  have 
employed.  Ordinary  speculation  is  sanctioned 
by  law  and  by  the  popular  conscience.  It  is 
accounted  as  honorable  as  productive  trade, 
and  few  persons  would  be  restrained  by  con- 
scientious scruples  from  sharing  in  its  profits. 
As  a consequence  speculation  has  come  to  be 
recognized  as  a respectable  profession  when  not 
accompanied  by  overt  dishonesty.  In  every 
community  we  may  find  men  who  gain  a live- 
lihood by  speculation  alone.  Besides  these  are 
very  many  representatives  from  every  class  of 
society  and  every  real  or  imaginable  profession 


1 68  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

who  invest  a part  of  their  surplus  earnings  in 
this  form  of  trade.  While  they  continue  to 
devote  their  chief  attention  and  energy  to  some 
productive  calling,  whether  it  be  the  law,  or 
husbandry,  or  preaching  the  Gospel,  or  meas- 
uring cloth,  as  often  as  they  can  spare  a few 
dollars,  they  put  it  into  margins  or  stocks,  or 
buy  a few  lots  of  land  in  some  growing  town; 
or  enter  the  Board  of  Trade. 

A very  few  out  of  the  vast  number  who  thus 
invest  are  successful;  and  these  usually  give  up 
their  legitimate  toil  and  turn  their  whole  at- 
tention to  speculation.  Others,  and  many 
more  in  number,  simply  lose  what  they  invest 
in  this  way.  Still  others,  being  threatened  with 
loss,  constantly  add  to  their  unprofitable  invest- 
ment with  the  hope  of  saving  what  they  have 
already  invested  and  thus  involve  their  whole 
business  in  ruin,  or  making  use  of  funds  not 
their  own  become  entangled  in  hopeless  defal- 
cation. It  is  a fact  worthy  of  notice  that  the 
majority  of  our  defaulters  have  been  drawn 
into  dishonesty  by  unsuccessful  speculation. 
With  results,  however,  we  have  nothing  to  do 
in  the  present  discussion.  We  are  only  con- 
cerned with  the  fact  that  the  practice  of  specu- 
lation in  some  form  is  well-nigh  universal. 
Men  who  pride  themselves  on  their  strict  hon- 
esty, who  would  not  intentionally  wrong  their 
fellow-men,  and  who  would  be  ashamed  to  buy 
a lottery  ticket  or  stake  their  money  at  the 


The  Ethics  of  Speculation.  169 

gaming  table,  have  no  conscientious  scruples 
against  speculation. 

Few  persons  distinguish  between  legal  and 
moral  right;  and  in  this  land  there  is  a tend- 
ency to  submit  all  questions  to  the  dictum  of 
the  majority.  We  must  remember,  however, 
that  questions  of  right  and  wrong  cannot  be 
decided  by  a show  of  hands  or  weight  of  au- 
thority. These  standards  are  very  uncertain 
and  changeful.  Popular  opinion  in  ancient 
Sparta  declared  theft  to  be  a virtue,  and  the 
same  authority  in  Judea  branded  Divine  good- 
ness a crime.  But  notwithstanding  all  the 
changes  of  public  sentiment,  the  eternal  prin- 
ciples of  right  and  truth  have  remained  the 
same,  and  the  moral  character  of  every  practice 
or  institution  must  be  determined  by  these 
alone. 

When  weighed  in  the  balances  of  eternal 
justice,  speculation  is  found  wanting.  Its 
character  will  not  stand  the  supreme  test. 
It  is  a moral  wrong.  It  is  in  its  essential 
nature  opposed  to  all  accepted  ethical  stand- 
ards. It  stultifies  the  fundamental  principles 
of  right  which  must  underlie  all  permanent 
social  relations.  The  speculator  is  a thief 
from  society.  He  is  a parasite,  living  only 
as  he  sucks  the  life  blood  of  another.  He 
is  a public  malefactor,  having  no  claim  to  a 
place  in  the  ranks  of  honest  trade. 

The  business  of  the  speculator  has  not  grown 


1 70  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

up  out  of  any  real  or  fancied  need  of  society. 
It  is  the  result  of  unmitigated  selfishness,  the 
reckless  haste  to  be  rich.  The  possibility  of 
acquiring  wealth  has  begotten  an  intense  desire 
for  wealth.  The  “ mushroom  ” fortunes  so 
common  in  a new  country  have  become  a snare 
to  the  people,  and  almost  every  young  person 
cherishes  the  feverish  hope  that  through  some 
happy  circumstance  wealth  will  come  to  him 
much  more  quickly  than  it  can  be  earned  by 
ordinary  and  natural  methods.  In  a land  like 
ours,  there  is  much  to  foster  this  hope.  Our 
resources  are  enormous  in  comparison  with  our 
population  and  they  are  as  yet  very  imperfectly 
developed.  In  them  lie  untold  possibilities  of 
wealth.  The  discovery  of  a mine  has  made 
many  a poor  man  rich  in  a day.  Petroleum 
wells  have  accomplished  the  same  result.  Use- 
ful inventions  have  poured  money  into  the 
pockets  of  men  who  were  wise  enough  and  for- 
tunate enough  to  take  advantage  of  the  patent 
laws.  The  unusual  demands  created  by  the 
late  war  were  a means  of  bringing  wealth  to 
not  a few.  And  so  it  has  often  happened  that 
men  of  no  extraordinary  ability  have,  by  seiz- 
ing some  great  opportunity,  leaped  at  one 
bound  from  poverty  to  luxury  in  a most  un- 
expected manner  and  without  unusual  exer- 
tion on  their  own  part. 

Whenever  a fortune  is  thus  suddenly  ac- 
quired the  spirit  of  emulation  is  aroused.  Hun- 


The  Ethics  of  Speculation.  171 

dreds  of  onlookers  become  dissatisfied  with  the 
ordinary,  slow  processes  of  acquisition.  The 
industry,  the  unremitting  toil,  the  constant 
care,  and  the  patient  waiting  necessary  to  gain 
even  a moderate  competence  are  scorned  in 
view  of  the  chance  to  make  a fortune  in  a day. 
The  question  arises  in  every  mind — “ One 
man  has  done  it,  why  may  not  all  do  the  same  ?” 
With  the  question  comes  the  determination. 
In  their  eagerness  they  entirely  forget  the  im- 
portant relation  of  quid  pro  quo , and  see  only 
the  fortune  acquired  without  labor  or  waiting. 
If  natural  opportunities  for  acquisition  are 
wanting,  they  create  artificial  opportunities. 
If  they  cannot  make  themselves  rich  by  en- 
riching others,  they  will  do  it  by  impoverish- 
ing others.  In  other  words — they  speculate \ 
Wealth  is  legitimately  gained  only  by  means 
of  production  in  some  form.  The  discoverer 
of  a mine  or  of  an  oil  well  brings  within  the 
reach  of  men  vast  stores  of  wealth  which  were 
before  unknown  and  therefore  useless;  hence 
he  is  in  reality  a great  producer  and  the  for- 
tune which  he  acquires  is  only  a fair  return  to 
him  for  the  increase  of  wealth  which  lie  has 
given  to  the  world.  The  inventor  has  become 
an  indirect  producer  by  increasing  the  produc- 
ing power  of  others,  if  his  invention  has  any 
real  value;  hence  he  also  receives  only  a just 
return  for  what  he  has  given  to  men.  The 
inventor  of  the  mowing  machine  immeasurably 


172 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


increased  the  productive  power  of  agricultural 
laborers,  and  thus  fairly  earned  all  the  wealth 
he  may  have  derived  from  his  invention.  The 
same  element  of  productiveness  underlies  all 
legitimate  trade.  A farmer  in  the  West  raises 
ten  thousand  bushels  of  corn.  If  he  finds  no 
market  for  it,  the  greater  portion  must  go  to 
waste.  But  if  another  man  buys  nine  thou- 
sand bushels  and  carries  it  to  eastern  consum- 
ers, he  has  become  a producer  as  really  as 
though  he  had  himself  raised  nine  thousand 
bushels  of  corn.  The  railroad  men  and  all 
who  took  a necessary  part  in  conveying  the 
corn  from  its  original  producer  to  the  con- 
sumer are  indirectly  producers,  for  although 
of  themselves  they  have  produced  nothing, 
they  have  saved  the  production  of  the  farmer 
from  perishing  and  thus  being  lost  to  the 
world.  The  man  who  actually  buys  railroad 
stocks  as  a permanent  investment  becomes  a 
partial  owner  of  the  road  and  the  profit  which 
he  derives  from  its  regular  dividends  is  legiti- 
mate gain,  since  he  intakes  an  equivalent  re- 
turn to  society  in  the  productive  work  of  the 
road.  In  this  way  the  labor  of  merchants, 
bankers  and  countless  other  classes  of  society 
is  accounted  productive  because  it  forms  a nec- 
essary link  between  producer  and  consumer  and 
thus  adds  to  the  wealth  of  the  world.  The  re- 
sult of  all  truly  productive  labor  is  to  increase 
the  aggregate  wealth  of  society,  and  any  labor 


The  Ethics  of  Speculation.  173 

that  does  not  increase  or  save  from  loss  either 
the  actual  wealth  or  the  wealth-producing 
power  of  mankind  is  not  in  any  sense  produc- 
tive. Speculation  does  neither,  but  only  con- 
sumes the  wealth  of  society  without  replacing 
a dollar. 

Again,  all  legitimate  trade  is  based  upon  a 
voluntary  exchange  of  equal  values.  This  im- 
plies first  of  all  that  both  of  the  immediate 
parties  to  the  exchange  shall  derive  an  equal 
advantage  from  it.  This  is  not  all,  however, 
for  many  exchanges  affect  not  the  immediate 
parties  alone,  but  the  community  as  a whole  ; 
and  it  is  just  as  essential  that  we  leave  the 
treasury  of  society  undisturbed  as  it  is  that  we 
deal  honestly  with  a single  individual. 

A rrlan  may  derive  large  profits  from  purely 
speculative  trade  while  the  individual  with 
whom  he  trades  apparently  loses  nothing.  In 
fact  there  may  be  an  extended  circle  of  specu- 
lative trade  in  which  all  parties  directly  con- 
cerned seem  to  be  about  equally  profited.  This 
is  often  the  case  in  land  speculation.  One  in- 
dividual may  buy  a lot  of  land  at  a moderate 
price  and  sell  it  almost  immediately  at  a great 
advance.  The  buyer  may  sell  again  also  at  an 
advance;  and  so  the  selling  may  continue  till 
one  buys  it  at  a high  price  for  permanent  pos- 
session, and  even  the  last  buyer  may  feel  per- 
fectly satisfied  with  his  bargain,  for  he  may 
still  use  the  land  profitably.  There  has  been 


174 


The  Why  of  Poverty. 


no  loss  but  rather  a direct  gain  to  each  individ- 
ual having  a part  in  the  complex  transaction, 
but  in  every  such  case  society  at  large  is  the 
loser. 

Speculation  knows  no  law  of  fair  or  equal 
exchange.  It  is  not  exchange  at  all.  It  is 
merely  disguised  and  legalized  robbery.  Its 
working  is  wholly  in  one  direction.  On  one 
side  it  is  all  gain;  on  the  other  side  it  is  all 
loss.  Every  dollar  that  the  speculator  gains 
represents  a dollar  or  more  of  loss  to  some  one, 
it  may  be  to  the  other  parties  directly  con- 
cerned in  the  transaction,  it  may  be  to  others 
indirectly  concerned,  it  may  be  the  entire  com- 
munity. 

The  paper  contracts  of  the  Exchanges  are 
perhaps  the  most  extensive  of  all  speculative 
transactions.  These  contracts  represent  no 
exchange  whatever.  They  are  wholly  inde- 
pendent of  the  element  of  production.  Their 
fulfilment  implies  merely  the  payment  of  a cer- 
tain sum  of  money  from  one  speculator  to  an- 
other for  which  nothing  is  given  in  return. 
The  money  may  go  in  either  direction  with 
equal  propriety,  since  it  is  wholly  unearned. 
The  direction  in  which  it  goes  is  arbitrarily  de- 
termined by  the  fluctuations  of  the  market. 

The  same  is  true  of  stock  speculation.  So 
far  as  the  principle  is  concerned  it  makes  no 
difference  whether  speculation  is  in  whole  stocks 
or  in  margins.  The  broker  who  buys  a thou- 


The  Ethics  of  Speculation.  175 

sand  shares  of  stock  in  some  good  railway  at 
par  and  sells  them  a week  later  at  five  per  cent, 
advance  because  of  a forced  rise  in  the  market 
has  no  moral  right  to  the  profit  received.  The 
real  value  of  the  stock  as  represented  by  the 
condition  and  traffic  of  the  railroad  remains 
unchanged.  He  has  not  earned  the  money  thus 
gained.  If  he  has  derived  a profit  of  five 
thousand  dollars  some  one  has  lost  just  five 
thousand  dollars  plus  the  waste  which  inevi- 
tably accompanies  all  such  transactions.  Again, 
if  I place  five  hundred  dollars  in  the  hands  of 
a broker  to  be  invested  in  margins,  when 
the  transaction  is  closed  if  I find  that  I have 
gained  a hundred  dollars,  then  I know  that 
some  one  has  lost  a hundred  dollars  in  addition 
to  various  brokers’  fees  and  other  expenses. 
When  the  Bulls  and  Bears  have  a skirmish  on 
Wall  Street  and  the  victors  win  a million  dol- 
lars, it  does  not  always  follow  that  their  im- 
mediate opponents  lose  a million  dollars,  but 
it  does  follow  that  somebody  has  lost  it.  Usu- 
ally the  loss  may  be  reckoned  in  small  sums  in- 
vested in  margins  by  traders,  clerks,  mechanics, 
and  others  throughout  the  country. 

In  its  essential  nature  and  mode  of  opera- 
tion speculation  in  all  these  forms  is  identical 
with  the  lottery  and  ordinary  gambling,  only 
that  it  is  if  possible  less  honest.  When  money 
is  taken  from  one  individual  and  given  to  an- 
other, not  because  he  has  earned  it,  but  because 


176  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

chance  has  decreed  it,  what  difference  does  it 
make  whether  the  chance  is  determined  by  a 
throw  of  the  dice  or  the  choice  of  a lucky  num- 
ber, or  a movement  of  the  stock  market?  Is 
not  the  moral  character  of  the  transaction  the 
same  in  either  case?  In  the  case  of  the  great 
speculators  they  are  themselves  the  forces  that 
move  the  market  and  determine  the  loss  or 
gain.  Their  whole  effort  and  ingenuity  is 
given  to  the  work  of  circulating  false  impres- 
sions and  misleading  their  opponents  as  to  their 
real  intentions  and  the  actual  state  of  the 
market.  Their  action  is  precisely  that  of  ex- 
perienced and  unscrupulous  gamblers  trying  to 
outwit  each  other  in  the  keenness  of  their  cheat- 
ing. 

What  a moral  spectacle  was  presented  to  the 
world  when,  a few  years  ago,  a father  and  son, 
both  prominent  speculators,  measured  swords 
in  the  arena  of  the  stock  market.  Never  were 
deadly  enemies  more  anxious  to  deceive  one 
another  regarding  their  movements  and  inten- 
tions. Each  taxed  his  strategic  powers  to  the 
utmost,  and  the  youth  proved  a more  apt  pupil 
in  the  art  of  dissembling  than  even  his  doting 
parent  could  wish,  for  he  at  length  succeeded 
in  bleeding  the  old  gentleman  to  the  extent  of 
many  thousand  dollars. 

Again,  take  the  case  of  the  land  speculator. 
His  business  is  of  the  same  moral  character  as 
that  of  his  brother  in  the  stock  market.  It 


The  Ethics  of  Speculation.  177 


depends  for  success  upon  an  artificial  disturb- 
ance of  the  natural  laws  of  trade.  He  aims 
not  to  supply  an  existing  demand,  but  to  create 
a fictitious  demand  which  he  may  use  for  his 
own  profit.  He  goes  to  some  quiet  town,  buys 
up  a large  tract  of  land  in  some  eligible  locality, 
and  then,  by  a process  well  known  to  specula- 
tors, creates  a “ boom  ” and  attracts  buyers. 
In  a very  short  time  he  sells  enough  of  the  land 
to  give  him  a rich  profit  on  his  investment.  Or 
it  may  be  that  he  prefers  to  go  to  a place  where 
the  boom  has  already  been  started,  and  he 
merely  steps  into  the  current  and,  by  skilful 
purchases  and  sales,  causes  to  pass  rapidly 
through  his  hands  a number  of  desirable  lots 
by  which  process  he  gains  many  thousands  of 
dollars. 

Now  what  right  has  he  to  the  money  thus 
accumulated?  He  has  not  earned  it.  He  has 
added  nothing  to  the  wealth  of  the  community. 
The  land  is  just  as  it  was  when  he  bought  it. 
He  may  have  laid  out  streets  and  made  some 
slight  improvements,  but  they  are  trifling  in 
comparison  with  the  profit  derived.  He  has 
taken  several  thousand  dollars  from  the  com- 
munity for  which  he  has  made  no  return.  This 
is  obviously  unjust,  no  matter  by  what  process 
it  has  been  accomplished.  He  may  say  that  he 
has  cheated  no  one,  for  the  purchasers  have 
all  done  as  well  as  himself.  They  bought  the 
land  freely  and  without  any  manner  of  com- 
12 


178  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

pulsion;  therefore  the  trade  is  in  every  way  a 
case  of  fair  exchange.  So  it  seems  if  we  con- 
sider only  the  immediate  parties  to  the  trans- 
action. But  let  us  look  a little  further.  I buy 
a lot  of  land  to-day  for  a thousand  dollars. 
By  dividing  it  into  small  lots  and  booming  it 
I sell  it  next  week  for  two  thousand  dollars. 
What  have  I done  ? I have  taken  advantage  of 
an  artificially  created  demand  for  land  to  ex- 
tort from  society  a thousand  dollars  for — 
nothing.  The  individuals  to  whom  I sold  the 
lots  .may  fancy  that  they  made  good  bargains, 
and  so  they  may  as  compared  with  others;  but 
the  community  is  just  one  thousand  dollars 
poorer  for  my  transaction.  I have  drawn  a 
thousand  dollars  from  the  world's  store  of 
wealth  without  returning  a cent. 

Many  an  American  town  is  suffering  to-day 
from  the  fearful  drain  that  has  been  made  upon 
its  resources  under  pretense  of  stimulating  its 
early  growth.  Speculation  of  this  sort  affects 
the  prosperity  of  a town  much  as  alcohol  af- 
fects a sick  man,  giving  an  unnatural  vitality 
at  the  time  which  must  be  paid  for  with  interest 
in  the  future.  Many  people  fancy  that  our 
country  is  being  vastly  benefited  by  the  work 
of  speculators  in  developing  our  great  West 
and  in  building  up  new  towns  on  the  frontier. 
But  if  a balance  sheet  could  be  accurately 
drawn,  it  would  appear  that  every  dollar  of 
gain  from  these  speculations  in  real  estate  has 


The  Ethics  of  Speculation.  179 

its  corresponding  dollar  of  loss  in  some  part 
of  the  country.  The  successful  towns  have 
been  built  upon  the  ruins  of  others  less  success- 
ful. The  advancing  prices  of  land  in  Kansas 
or  California  only  keep  pace  with  the  falling 
prices  in  the  hill  towns  of  New  England.  The 
gains  of  the  non-producing  western  specula- 
tor are  accounted  for  in  the  scanty  living  of  the 
producing  farmers  and  other  laborers  in  the 
East. 

From  an  economic  point  of  view  speculation 
in  land  or  in  any  other  commodity  where  there 
is  actual  ownership  and  transfer  of  property, 
is  much  less  harmful  than  the  paper  contracts 
and  speculation  in  margins,  since  it  is  necessar- 
ily limited  in  amount.  Ethically,  however, 
there  is  no  difference.  Every  form  of  trade 
whose  profits  do  not  represent  real  earnings 
but  are  derived  from  artificial  changes  in  the 
market,  is  morally  wrong  even  though  its 
economic  effect  be  unappreciable.  Any  person  y 
who  draws  a dollar  from  the  treasury  of  so- 
ciety without  making  an  equivalent  return  is 
dishonest. 

Every  social  problem  presents  two  phases,  the 
economic  and  the  ethical.  These  are  in  a 
sense  wholly  independent  of  each  other,  yet  they 
are  always  harmonious.  That  is  to  say,  the 
economic  effect  of  a custom  or  institution  can- 
not be  attributed  directly  to  its  ethical  charac- 
ter, nor,  on  the  other  hand,  is  its  ethical  status 


180  The  Why  of  Poverty. 

to  be  determined  by  its  economic  effect  alone. 
Still  it  is  doubtless  true  in  every  instance  that, 
in  the  broadest  view,  the  economically  expe- 
dient is  also  the  ethically  right.  Of  the  two 
elements  the  ethical  is  the  more  important, 
since  it  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  social  rela- 
tions. No  custom  can  be  beneficial  to  society, 
no  economic  system  can  be  satisfactory,  no 
state  of  society  can  be  permanently  harmonious, 
that  does  not  rest  on  a sound  ethical  basis. 
Furthermore,  any  plan  for  the  solution  of  ex- 
isting difficulties  that  takes  no  account  of  the 
ethical  principles  involved  must  prove  a signal 
failure.  It  is  of  little  use  to  change  external 
forms  unless  our  work  goes  deeper.  To  legis- 
late evils  out  of  existence  is  impossible.  Eco- 
nomic changes  and  reformatory  legislation  are 
of  value  only  when  they  express  a real  advance 
in  the  moral  sentiment  of  the  people. 

The  evils  which  exist  in  American  society  to- 
day and  which  cause  so  much  trouble  and  un- 
rest are  not  the  result  of  an  imperfect  social 
system  merely.  They  spring  chiefly  from  a 
lack  of  true  moral  principle.  The  popular  con- 
science is  not  as  keen  as  it  should  be,  especially 
in  matters  where  large  sums  of  money  are  in- 
volved. It  is  difficult  to  persuade  a man  that 
the  business  by  means  of  which  he  has  ac- 
cumulated great  wealth  is  morally  wrong.  The 
selfish  love  of  money  lies  athwart  the  path  of 
every  moral  reform  and  clogs  the  wheels  of 


The  Ethics  of  Speculation.  181 

human  progress.  For  many  years  slavery  was 
declared  to  be  a Christian  institution,  because 
there  was  money  in  it.  Hundreds  of  men  will 
not  see  the  real  iniquity  of  the  liquor  traffic 
because  they  derive  a large  revenue  from  it. 
So  it  is  with  speculation.  The  large  fortunes 
that  have  been  quickly  and  easily  acquired  by 
this  form  of  trade  have  made  men  willingly 
blind  to  its  real  character.  It  has  appeared  so 
respectable  in  many  cases  as  to  deceive  even 
the  very  elect. 

But  the  time  is  coming  when  this  disguise 
must  be  removed.  The  spirit  of  the  age  de- 
mands it.  A moral  evil  requires  a moral 
remedy.  Social  changes  may  accomplish  some- 
thing in  this  matter;  but  there  must  also  be  a 
thorough  change  of  moral  sentiment.  The 
conscience  of  the  people  must  be  more  finely 
tempered.  The  work  of  reform  will  not  be 
complete  till  the  speculator  is  degraded  from 
the  ranks  of  honest  trade  and  compelled  to  take 
his  place  beside  gamblers  and  other  social  out- 
laws. 


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